Dark Lover
by Vanessa Viking
Summary: Christa Perkins thought she was safe from the vampire that had her 10 years ago. But when a nightmare from her past is back she may be in danger again. Can she be save from her past? Can Eric help her? Eric/OFC Rated: M for adult themes, language & violence. AU. R&R.
1. History Repeating

Welcome, welcome…

This story has been running in my head for a while now. This is how I see Eric, all scary, mean — not the bullying type —, sexy, and fearless! I hope you enjoy the first chapter. I am letting you know that this story is rated M for various reasons: sex, a bit of violence, bad words, if you don't like that kind of story don't read. All reviews are welcome! :D

Disclaimer: Obviously I don't own True Blood characters but I do own my own original characters. Anyhow, review!

(I will not post the disclaimer on the upcoming chapters)

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**CHAPTER 1: HISTORY REPEATING**

I let out a tiny gasp when I saw the red neon sign that came in view: Fangtasia. They tricked me. I knew something fishy was going on when we left home; they avoided my gaze and didn't want to tell me what bar we were going to. I knew that there was a famous vampire bar in Shreveport but it was a place I wanted to avoid. They weren't going to be the first vampires that I had met but I knew that you didn't mess with vampires. I tried to control the fury that was rising up inside me. Count to ten…count to ten. Anna was lucky that I was in the backseat. The parking lot was full already; there was a small line waiting to get into the parking lot. When I pinched her, Anna rubbed her arm.

"What the fuck, Christa?!" She spun in her seat and glared at me.

I glared back at her, not taking my eyes off her. "You dumb fuck! You trick me. I thought we were going to our normal bar."

"I never said to what bar, did I?" She tried to use her innocent voice. She turned her eyes back to the road. We moved into the parking lot and she turned off the 2005 Audi.

I gaped at her. I looked at my friend, Sofia, to back me up, but she only shrugged. I stared at Anna. "It's a vampire bar, Anna. They'll eat us alive." These two were actually very much into vampires. I didn't have anything against my friends. To be honest, it was my first time in Fangtasia. Yes, I was curious about them. They could snap our necks without a second thought. They were vicious when it came to humans; they think they can make our choices for us. I had seen it firsthand. However, if it wasn't for that vampire who saved me that night, I wouldn't be here.

Sofia chimed in, "Just relax. Everything is okay." She twisted around to face me. Her hazel eyes were soft and relaxing. "You have to try to have sex with a Vampire, it's incredible."

I gagged and made a face. The thought of Sofia with a Vampire made me shudder. "I don't want to hear about your sex life, Sofi. You just destroyed the innocent image I had of you." Sofia chuckled and Anna joined her. "Are you two fucking laughing at me?"

"Nope." Anna shook her head, her bouncy blonde curls dancing back and forth. "We are laughing with you."

"I didn't laugh, did I?" I mimicked Anna's voice, trying to sound guiltless.

Anna faked a cackle. "Ha-ha. Enough of this. Let's have some fun!"

I wasn't fond of the idea of going inside Fangtasia; I opened the door of the car and the warm wind blew around my loose curly hair. I knew I was going to stand out. Anna and Sofia were wearing a black dresses, black heels, and they'd mix easily with these people. I, on the other hand was wearing a romper that was open in the back and the worst part was that it was red with a colorful pattern of tropical flowers. Sofia helped me chose the black wedge booties. I was showing way to much skin to be coming to a Vampire bar. Sofia peeked over her shoulder and wiggled her shoulders. I chuckled. She was already dancing to the music coming out of the bar. Her hazel eyes were bright and challenging. I could read her eyes clear as day, _in or out_?

_In._

"Chris, come on." Sofia waved her hand; Anna was already in line with a few people that were already there. She was giggling and chatting happily with them.

"I am showing a lot of skin," I said lamely; "you should have told me."

"Anna made me promise to not say anything. I am sorry, Chris."

"I look like vampire bait. I am totally screaming bite me!" I hissed at Sofia; she flinched. I was taking my rage out on her when I needed to take that anger out on a certain blondie that was waiting in line. "I am sorry; that Blondie is going to pay."

"Count me in!" We snickered and high-fived. "Now, come on."

Sofia led me to the waiting line. We squeezed in with Anna and her friends; the people behind us whined, but with one of Sofia's deadly glares, they shut up. Sofia started chatting cheerfully about Fangtasia; she looked like a kid in a candy store. It was a little surprising that this many humans wanted vampires around, knowing that they couldn't have the strength to fight a vampire, and yet, they enjoy having sex and letting them drink their blood. Since the vampires decided to expose themselves, humans had become V-addicts and missing persons, but they were blind to see that it was the work of vampires. I wish I could hate them, but I couldn't. I knew there were good and bad vampires, they proved that ten years ago. While one savage vampire had me as a prisoner, the other had saved my life.

Finally, after waiting ten minutes in line, we made it to the door. There was a blonde vampire wearing a red leather dress; her blonde hair was styled in loose curls and her lips were a bright red. Her blue eyes scanned each one of us, but lingered on me. She stiffened; she faintly angled her head, without taking her eyes off me.

"I.D." Her gaze was unmistakably making me uncomfortable. I looked at Sofia and Anna, but they showed their licenses and walked inside the bar. "And you, Honey, do you have an I.D.?" She uttered, licking her bloody red lips.

"Yes, yes." I looked through my shoulder bag, trying to control my shaky hands. I could feel her gaze. _Come on, Christa don't let a Vampire scare you! _When I found the plastic card, I showed it to her. I cleared my throat, "Here." I was stunned at how strong my voice sounded. She raised her eyebrow.

"Welcome to Fangtasia, Christa Elizabeth Perkins." A small smile stretched her lips.

"Thank you."

"It's good to have a new face around here."

"Thanks?" I took my license out of her fingers. I could feel her eyes on me as I walked inside the bar. My mouth gaped; this was a nightclub, also, not just a bar. I had been to nightclubs in my college life, but Fangtasia was a strange world. At the same time, I was stunned. The bar/nightclub was full of vampires and humans alike, and they were dancing to the songs that were blaring from the speakers. There were a few black tables and small stages where vampires danced. Their movements were so fast that it was hard to tell when one move ended and another began. Someone stumbled into me, shaking me out of the daze I was in. I cleared my throat and walked to the bar.

I sat on the bar stool nervously; I couldn't stop drumming my fingers on the bar counter. _Crap__, __balls, you need to relax, Chris._ "Dark 'N' Stormy, please." I called the bartender, but he unheeded me. Don't they have super hearing? I cleared my throat.

"Hey, the woman here is talking to you." A voice next to me called the bartender. With his vampire speed, he was in my face in a heartbeat. I had seen it many times but it still amazed me at how fast and strong they were, and they really take advantage of that when it comes to humans.

"Dark…"

"I heard you the first time." He said, and turned around to work. Now that I was alone, I looked around the bar. My romper could easily mix in with the bloody red walls. I spun in the bar stool to have a better look at the bar. Near the back of the bar was a throne-like seat but no one sat there. I spotted Sofia; she was dancing with a vampire and laughing whilst the Vampire ran his hand up her belly to her chest. Everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves, dancing to the rhythm of the song.

"Your drink."

I was getting bored as the minutes passed. I exhaled noisily and decided to check my email to see if I had any emails from my boss. Most of them were spam offering discounts to various stores; I deleted those. My body tensed when I felt eyes on me. I cautiously turned and I noticed the blonde vampire from outside walking by, her eyes on me. I follow her with my gaze as she walked to the throne-like seat, her steps soft and grateful. A few men, as well as women, looked at her when she walked by. That's when I saw him. He had a phone in his hand, his fingers moving fast. He looked up, even before the blonde vampire made it to the throne-like seat. A message seemed to cross between the two; she crossed the stage to stand at his side.

He shoved his phone in his black leather jacket and looked down upon the dance floor, skimming the crowd. If he hadn't moved, he could have appeared statuesque but his eyes gave life to his body. He was handsome, even as he sat, I could tell he was tall and broad-shouldered; his short blond hair was_ combed back. _Her gaze was much like his, looking down at the crowd, but the tiny smile she had on her lips was giving a more lifelike look to her beautiful face. She scanned the crowd until her eyes landed on me; I didn't bother to look away. To my amusement her smile widened, not what I was expecting. She sat and placed a hand on the knee of the Vampire and he look closely at her as she spoke to him. He slowly turned his gaze to me, his lips remaining perfectly still. His gaze made my body shiver. I felt like he was undressing me. I couldn't look away. I blinked a few times and spun around. I ordered another Dark 'N' Stormy to calm my nerves. I could still feel his gaze piercing my back.

"You okay?"

I turned to my right to find the vampire that yelled to the bartender a few minutes before. I nodded, "Yes." He was kind of handsome; his hair was shaggy and brownish. He had hazel eyes that seemed gentle.

"Can I buy you a drink?" He asked as he sat in the bar stool next to me.

"No, thank you. I have one right here." I tasted my drink; he didn't take his eyes off me. "What?"

He touched the ends of my raven black hair, sliding his fingers through them. I swatted his hand away and slipped out of the bar stool almost falling. He didn't like that; his eyes darkened with fury. I guess his gentle eyes were a trick to get innocent girls to fall for his charm and then kill them. "You smell divine."

"Huh?" _Oh God no._ _This couldn't be happening_; he knew already. It was happening all over again. I thought the vampires would ignore me with all the humans in the bar. I tried to control my heartbeat.

"Your blood…" he inhaled the air and, using his vampire speed was behind me, his hands on my waist, "smells appetizing." Wasn't someone going to help me? I guess not. Everyone was groping each other; if they saw me, they weren't coming to my rescue.

I stomped his foot, not the smartest move, but he let me go. I was ready to run, but the blonde vampire that was on the throne a minute before was beside me. Once he saw her, he didn't say anything and strode away. I was ready to thank her but she cut me off.

"He summoned you." She said with a little grin.

"Huh?" These Vampires were driving me crazy. I didn't know what she was talking about. "Who wants to see me?"

"The sheriff."

"I didn't break any laws. I am old enough to drink." Her smile widened with my reply. "I won't see any Sheriff if my lawyer is not present."

Her smile fell and she rolled her eyes. "Believe me, Sugar, you didn't break any laws. He just wants to drink your delicious blood. Or fuck you. You would be lucky if he feeds from you and fucks you." Her words made me sick, her simper widened with the mention of blood and sex.

_Shit. Shit._ Fear was consuming my body; my heart was pounding like crazy and for a moment I thought I was going to puke. "Look, I-I d-don't…" I stopped the moment I stuttered. The blonde vampire rolled her eyes. "I don't want any trouble with vampires. I was just leaving."

She gripped my arm when I turned around to leave. "You are not going anywhere, Cupcake. You're coming with me. Understand?" _Was she trying to glamour me?_ I was glad that mind trick thing didn't work on me.

I couldn't help the scoff that escaped from my mouth. "No. I am not going anywhere with you or your sheriff." I was expecting her to follow me, but she didn't. I ran into a few people in my effort to get away from the blonde Vampire. I left without telling Sofia or Anna. They were enjoying themselves and I didn't want to ruin their night. Relief washed over me when I made it to the parking lot.

"Hey, Sugar, where are you going?" A drunken guy called behind me; they were just drunk or high people outside the parking lot of Fangtasia. They laughed and high-fived each other. I ignored them and continue walking to get to the nearest bus stop.

There was a bus stop three blocks from Fangtasia. I had seen it on our way there. I hugged my shoulder bag closer to my body; it was a bit chilly. It was past one in the morning.

I heard someone walking behind me, the hair on the back of my neck stood on end. I couldn't hear them but I could feel them. I accelerated my steps and peeked over my shoulder to see if the drunken group had decided to follow me, but there was no one behind me. My eyebrows furrowed; I could had sworn someone was behind me.

"Going somewhere?" A male voice called from the dark. I glance madly around me to find the source of the voice. I spun around to run but I ran into something solid; two rough hands kept me from falling on my ass. _Shit, shit._ The Vampire! My guess was right. He was freaking tall and I felt small standing next to him. I was only five-four and the wedge booties barely let me reached under his chin. His hold on my arms tightened.

"Let go." I tried to free myself from his iron-grip, but it was impossible. He tightened his grip even more when I tried to free myself. "Let me go." My heart was racing; I feared for my life. His blue eyes were hard to read.

"What are you?" He surprised me when he pinned me to the wall, and lifted me. My feet kicked and I grasped his wrist and tried to fight him off. "What are you? Answer me."

My eyes stung with tears; my throat felt like it was on fire. "I…don't…know…what..." I managed to say. He let go and I fell on my ass. My hand rubbed my throat, but it hurt even with the slight touch of my fingertips. I coughed a few times, but it hurt like hell. He turned his back to me and paced back and forth. I needed to buy myself some time to escape him. I needed him to keep talking. "I don't know what you're talking about." I said, after a few minutes of silence. I rose to my feet. He stopped pacing and faced me.

He was freaking me out with his evil stares. With every minute that passed, I could feel my life in danger. He chuckled, but it was humorless. He shook his head, and scrubbed his face with his hand. The instructions of the self-defense class I took five years ago roared in my head. Vampires could feel pain, but if he was strong and fast, he was going to see my strike to the groin, and that wasn't going to help the matter I was in. I slipped my hand inside my shoulder bag, slowing when he turned his back again. I held the silver pepper spray tightly. He lunged at me again, pinning me against the wall, but I was ready.

"Don't play with me. You're clearly not…" I guess I was never going to find out what he was going to say; I sprayed him all over his face. He growled and stumbled back. That was my cue; I ran like hell from him. I didn't look over my shoulder to see if he was following me.

I simply ran and ran the one block left to the bus stop. My lungs were on fire and my ribcage hurt like hell. I rounded the street just in time to see the bus. "Stop the bus; stop the bus!" I yelled at the man who was climbing onto the bus. The driver started off, but when I pounded madly at the doors of the bus, he nodded and opened them.

Midnight rushed to me when he heard the lock of the door open. I slid down to the floor with my back on the door. My body was shaking; I was still in shock about the attack. I almost died by the hands of a vampire. He knew already. A million horrible thoughts crossed my mind. I needed to leave, get away from him. I shook my head; I wasn't going to leave again. _You're __safe__ here. Nothing can hurt you._

Midnight licked my cheek; and I ran my hand through his black fur. _What are you?_ His voice roared in my head. Did he know what happened ten years ago? No, he couldn't know. No, he couldn't know. Nobody knew about that, except Mom. I shook my head. _That's the past__;__ you need to let it go._ I pet Midnight, he was a five years old black lab/pitbull mix, he had a white spot on his chest shaped like a butterfly. He was a gift from Sofia on my twenty-fifth birthday. "Hey, Bud. You didn't destroy the house, did you?" He barked at the sliding doors of the kitchen. That was odd; he never wanted to go out at this hour. I scowled, looking at the forest. "Tomorrow, Midnight."

Midnight tailed me to the second floor to my room. I kicked off my wedge booties, and sighed in relief when my bare feet touched the cold of the wood floor. I undressed, tossing my romper onto the chair next to the door. I picked up my nightdress off my dresser; my bra was also tossed next to the romper on the chair. I changed into my nightdress and went to use the toilet.

I was petrified when I saw the red light bruises on my neck and forearms. The fingers of the Vampire were visible on my throat and forearms. My eyes welled with tears; I didn't like how vulnerable I felt when he attacked me. I swallowed back the tears; I wasn't going to cry about it. He didn't have any right to do this to me, though. I wasn't a punching bag that he could use to entertain himself. I shut my eyes and stopped thinking about the Vampire and the attack all together. I pulled my hair into a quick loose bun and brushed my teeth.

Midnight was growling at the window when I marched out of the bathroom; his teeth were bare. I ignored him, and crawl to bed. "Midnight, come here." He growled again. I laid back and stared out the window. I didn't see anything.

Midnight woke me up early the next morning. He was scratching at the door and whimpering. I stretched and my bones cracked; I scrubbed my heavy eyelids and stared at the ceiling. The bruises on my forearms had darkened to a purplish color and so had my throat. I hopped out of bed and strolled to the bathroom to use the toilet. I stared at the mirror while brushing my teeth; two green eyes stared back at me.

When Sofia met me, she said that my eyes stood out the most with my raven black hair and fair skin. _Where the hell did I get these looks?_ My mother died when I was twenty-one. She didn't have green eyes and wasn't fair skin either. Dad bailed on us when Mom told him she was with child; I guess he didn't want any sort of responsibly and he ran away. I never asked about him, because I knew it hurt Mom to talk about him, so I learned at a very young age to never ask about him. _He had the heart to abandon us; I could have the heart to forget about him._ Mom didn't have a very good relationship with her parents either, so I never met them. When she died, Sofia and Anna were there to support me.

I brushed my hair and pulled it back into a ponytail. I grabbed a pair of Capri pants, a yoga tank top, and slipped on my running shoes. Midnight was waiting for me, wiggling his tail, when I stepped out of my walk-in closet; I couldn't help the small chuckle. "You sure know how to warm hearts!" I crouched down and pet him. He barked.

When I returned from our run, I took a long shower, trying to relax. I wrapped myself in a towel and put another on my hair. I chose my matching bra and panties, and tossed aside the towel to change into my underwear. Midnight shadowed me to the closet; I looked behind me and he was wiggling his tail. I shook my head and chose my distressed denim shorts with a red racer-back tank. When it came to the shoes, I stopped to think. I looked at the wall that held most of my flat boots, wedge booties, flats, sneakers, heels, and wedges. I sighed and decided for red flats to match the tank.

I blow dried my hair first, and then did my side braid. I wasn't a big fan of makeup in the summer, so I decided to wear none. Though, I did cover up the bruises on my forearms and throat. It didn't feel right talking about the attack and I didn't want people questioning me about them. I checked and made sure that the house was locked and that I had everything in my shoulder bag before leaving. Midnight lied on the foyer floor; when he saw me, he rose to his feet and followed me to the car.

Most of the kids were playing in the yard when I got to the Family Shelter. I found the shelter two years ago. That was when Midnight and I were walking down the streets of the city on a warm September day, and the leash had unhooked off my hand and I had spent twenty hysterical minutes trying to catch up with him, as he weaved through the people walking the sidewalk. Finally, when I hooked his leash back to my hand, I noticed a girl was watching us from a doorway. Above the door, there was a sign Family Shelter. She was entertained at the scene and walked up to us.

"Is that your dog?" She had asked; her ponytail was uneven, and freckles dotted her cheeks and nose. Her pink dress needed a good wash.

"Yes. His name is Midnight; he's five years old. Do you like dogs?"

"Really? I am five years old! Yes, I like dogs. He's cute."

"What's your name, Little One?"

"Cassie." She outstretched her small hand to pet him, but at the last-minute hesitated.

I crouched down to her level. She had nice blue eyes. "Well, Cassie, if you want to pet him, you can, but you need to be gentle, though, okay?"

"Okay." She said, and ran her small hand down Midnight's back. Midnight licked her cheek making her giggle. From the corner of her eye, she was looking at me, "I better go or Papa will get mad." Before I could say good-bye, she sprinted inside the shelter. Midnight tried to go after her, but I pulled his leash and walked back home. I came back the next day and every single day for two years.

I helped the shelter with anything I could. Sometimes it was with food, toys, clothing, and books, anything that I could do for them. When the kids went to school, I stayed with the mothers and helped them with their smaller kids. I read to the kids and helped them with their homework when they come from school. When I was working and didn't have time to come during the day, I come at night and helped Dorothy, the main cook, with dinner. I helped with anything as long as I spent time with them.

Somehow, helping them made me feel better about myself. When I saw the mothers with their kids, I thought about my mother. She was in that place once, a single mother with a toddler, sometimes working two jobs at time. I miss my mother terribly, but when I am spending time in the shelter, I don't feel alone and that emptiness in my life. The love of these people is the reason I come here every day.

"Midnight," Cassie yelled down the hall as she jogged towards us. I let go of Midnight's leash and he leapt to her. He barked happily and licked her face. "Midnight, I miss you."

"And you didn't miss me?" I faked being hurt. Cassie narrowed her eyes. When I met her, she was five, but now she was seven years old and very mature for her age. I guess things in life really change you no matter what. Good or bad. She was wearing a bright yellow sundress that I brought her not long ago. Her light brown hair was in ponytail. "Nice dress."

"Of course, I did. How can else can I see Midnight?" She said innocently with a small smirk. She rose to her feet and wrapped her small arms around my waist. "I did miss you, Chris. And thank you again for the dress."

"I missed you too, Kiddo. And as I have said many times, you're welcome."

Midnight and Cassie left to play with the other kids in the yard. The kids were on their first week of summer holiday. No school and the house was full of laughter and fights between the kids all day long. Times flies when I am here; I am always busy moving from one thing to another. Most of the breaks are just to use the toilet or check on Midnight. He was a good dog; he didn't growl when the kids tried to ride him like a pony.

"Dear God," Dorothy said behind me; it was noon and the kids already had lunch and we were picking up all the dirty dishes. I spun to see what was wrong. "I forgot to buy onions for tonight's dinner. You don't mind cleaning up the dishes while I go to buy the onions?"

"I can go myself and buy the onions at Mark's Supermarket. I'll be back in ten minutes." I said. She nodded. "Okay." I said over my shoulder, walking to where I parked my car.

"Thank you, Christa! Bless your heart!" Dorothy yelled.

Mark's Supermarket was just ten minutes from the Family Shelter, but it took me twenty minutes to get there. There was a lot of traffic at this hour in Shreveport; everyone was going to meet with friends to have lunch or business meetings. The only spot at Mark's Supermarket where I had to park my Camaro zl1 was at the far end of the small parking lot. Sweat was thick on my forehead; I locked the car and walked fast to get inside the cold building to escape the hot day.

I picked a few good onions and put them in the bag, then, moved on to buy some fruit and vegetables for the kids, though Cassie was always whining about it. I also picked up some ice pops different flavors. I did a mental check of everything.

"Christa, how have you been, Loca?" I had known Danny for three years now, but not in a personal way, just went I came to the store. He was half-Latino and always a fun man. _"¿Es todo?"_ which meant, Is this everything? He asked, taking the basket.

"_Oh, no. También quiero llevarme toda la mierda invisible, Danny__,_" which meant, Oh, no. I'll buy all the invisible crap, Danny; I said sarcastically.

Danny smirked. "Duly noted."

I paid for the things and carried the bags to the car. When I got to the shelter, the kids got excited for the ice pops. That night, I didn't stay for dinner at the shelter. I was tired and wanted to get to bed early tonight. I was already changed to my nightdress with the television turned on, but I couldn't pay attention to the movie. I was curled up on the sofa, my knees tight to my chest. Midnight growled again. I sat upright on the sofa and looked at the forest.

"What's going on with you?" I opened the door and he sprinted into the forest barking. "Okay. Have fun!" I strode behind him barefoot. "Midnight?" I called out when his barking had stopped suddenly. "Midnight?"

I walked over to the edge of the forest. A twig snapped behind me. I could feel someone watching me; I could feel goosebumps rising all over my body. I was afraid to turn. I counted to ten in my head and spun. I ran into something solid and hard. I fall on my ass, my nightdress getting slightly wet when I landed. My heart raced when I saw the tall blond vampire from Fangtasia standing there. I couldn't see his eyes but his stared was making my heart race. I tried to crawl away from him on my ass.

"Going somewhere?" I stopped moving; his voice was menacing. I shook my head to get out of the daze his voice put me into. I crawled again; he chuckled. He was enjoying this. He took a step and I stopped crawling. "What you did last night was stupid, Human. Are you ready to die?" I shut my eyes; he growled. _This wasn't happening. I was asleep on my comfy bed_.

I reopened my eyes and found him looking at me with interest. I don't know from where I found my voice, but I answered him back. "You attacked me."

"Don't play with me, Human." He used his inhuman speed and got closer to my face. I didn't like his look; I knew for sure I was going to have nightmares later. "Now tell me what you are."

"I really don't—"His hand snapped to my throat; he raised me to my feet. My eyes stung with tears as I was fighting to get air. I grasped his wrist, trying to tear his hand away.

He growled deep in his chest. "Tell me what you are."

Everything around me was spinning; his deadly face was blurry in my eyesight. I just stopped fighting; this was over. This is how I was going to die, in the hands of a vampire after all. He let go and I fell to the ground, flat on my back. All the air had left my lungs. No matter how much I tried to breathe on my own, my throat burned when I tried to breathe. My eyelids were heavy; I just wanted to fall asleep. The last thing I remember before everything went black was being scooped over the vampire's shoulder and Midnight on the back porch barking. _Oh, fucking great, history __is __repeating __itself__._ That was my last thought when my heavy eyelids shut me out of the world.


	2. Haunted Dreams

Hello, hello again…

Happy Friday!

Thanks to those who favorite/alert the story and the reviews that was amazing! A huge thanks to my beta! You're great, thanks for the help!

I hope that you enjoy/like this chapter. Anyway, all reviews are welcome.

Enjoy the chapter! (Tell me what you think)

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**CHAPTER 2: HAUNTED DREAMS**

The door of the room unlocked; I didn't bother to look up to see who it was. I already knew. What day was it? How long I had been here? One week? Two weeks? Or was it a month? I had lost count. The room was cold and dark. The only light came from a lamp above me, but when I tried to look around me everything was dark. I wasn't the suicidal type, but now I wished I was dead. Dead would be more serene than being here in this dark room with rodents.

My jeans and t-shirt were tattered and torn; my feet were caked with dirt. The blood that was on my face was now dried from the beating that the vampire ordered his guardians to inflict last night. With any denial that I made, I always got a beating. His guardians were humans, but the blows still hurt like hell. I really needed a shower; I was feeling unclean. My raven black hair was the only thing hiding the contusions on my face.

The Vampire paced back and forth with his hands behind his back. He was wearing a very expensive suit; it was dark blue, with a light blue shirt. I wanted to attack him and choke him with his expensive necktie, but my wrists were tied onto the arms of the chair. It hurt whenever I tried to move my wrists and there was blood dried where the cuffs had dug into my skin. I wanted him dead. I wanted to kill him myself. He hurt me; I wanted revenge. I didn't know where these thoughts were coming from; I wasn't a person who wished harm upon anyone even if that person was already dead. I couldn't help but laugh. Perhaps reality was slipping away from me. The vampire scowled.

Arthur, at least that was the name that I'd heard him being called, pulled out a chair and sat in front of me. "How are you, my child?" He questioned with his Italian accent; I hated it. I didn't answer him. I just stared. His hazel eyes flashed with rage when I didn't respond. I had learned to not answer him even as he drank my blood, demanding that I scream for him. His hand slipped to my throat. I didn't cringe. "When I speak to you, I expected you to answer me. Understand?" I nodded my head once, so he could take his hand off me. He nodded and let go. He continued speaking. "What you can do is something a lot of people wished they could do, my child. I just want to protect you."

"So Vampires like you can enjoy drinking their blood? That's something people will never want." I responded with malice. "What I have is something people don't want to have."

"_Bella _don't speak like that. You're a beautiful creature with a amazing ability. You can destroy a whole army on your own. Can you imagine that?" His eyes lit up like a kid on Christmas day. I was sick of him. I leapt at him, but the flex cuffs that were on my wrists stopped me from killing him right there.

A single tear streamed down my cheek, "I hate you. Do you hear me? I fucking hate you!" I shouted at him. He stood up from his chair so fast that I never saw him move. He backhanded me. My head almost swiveled with the impact of his heavy hand. I tasted blood in my mouth; he growled and sank his fangs in my neck. I never made a sound.

The other Vampires who were on the room looked on hungrily as Arthur drank my blood. Arthur licked my neck and he moved away, his mouth was stained with my blood; he grinned. I wanted to jump at him and wipe the smile from his face.

"You have a big mouth and you will show me respect. Understand?"

"Fuck you." I replied angrily before I passed out. They chortled.

**. . .**

I sad straight up on the bed, my hand to my throat, but I didn't have any fang wounds. _I fucking hate dreams._ I shut my eyes for a moment; I disliked that I could remember him. I hated that he still haunted my dreams. My hands remained clenched at my side, my jawbone set tight. I controlled my breathing and reopened my eyes. _Where the freak I am? _This wasn't my room. The room was luxurious. This was something I couldn't afford with my paycheck. The sheets of the bed were a dark green satin. I fingered the fabric. _God, I need to buy one of these!_

The room was a mix of dark colors. The bed was a king-sized platform bed with a black tufted leather suede headboard, two nightstands at each side with two black jagged stripes lamps. My gaze moved across the room; there was an enormous flat-screen T.V. on the wall facing the bed. There was also an old bookshelf filled with different types of books. The French doors of a room were closed; my guess was that it could lead to an enormous walk-in closet full of designer clothing.

The door of the bathroom was open. I sprung out of bed, wiggling my feet in the soft rug that was beneath. The wood floor was cold but it didn't bother me as I strolled to the bathroom. It was huge, and had a Jacuzzi bathtub, double sinks, a shower, and of course the toilet.

The comprehension of where I was hit me like a ton of bricks. _Oh, fuck no!_ This wasn't happening again; I didn't escape a Vampire so another could treasure me. It was like Déjà vu. I needed to clear my head; I strode back to the room, and looked around me. I needed to get out of here before that vampire came back. The windows were sun protected; I knew it from the tint of the windows. I snorted; _of course._ Those windows were hard to break; I tried it when Arthur took me ten years ago. I couldn't see a thing; _was day or night?_ _What the freak do I now?_ I just stood there looking dumbly at the windows.

"You won't get very far." A voice whispered behind me. I spun around; the Vampire was in the doorway shirtless, wearing only dark pajama pants. Who knew that he was a hunk? I had to tear my eyes from his amazing body. Was he trying to seduce me? I did have time to notice that his abs were _amazing._ "Those windows are designed to keep the sun out. You can't break them."

_I knew that already. _"Why am I here?" I inquired, trying to avoid looking at his body. I crossed my arms over my chest, aware that I wasn't wearing a bra. He studied me, not taking his eyes off me.

He took one step inside the room and locked the door behind him. I kept my cool, no emotions. "You blacked out."

"How long was I out?"

"Five hours."

"It's a miracle I didn't die**,** then."

His jaw clenched when I said those words. "Yes, you were lucky."

I scoffed. "Well, I need to go home." I said leisurely; I didn't like his reaction when he rolled his eyes angry. "You clearly can't keep me here."

"I can do whatever I want; Human. I make the decisions here, not you." He was now next to me, his face close to mine. I didn't flinch. I just stared at him. Did it come back to haunt me because of what I did to Arthur? Well, karma was a bitch. "What are you?"

"I don't know what you're talking about." I decided to play dumb at his little game and it was truth; I didn't know what I was. I knew something was different about me, but I didn't know what that was, but he wasn't going to get any answers. When I was a teenager I started hearing other's thoughts. At first I thought I was going crazy; how could someone do such things? How?

Mom was the only one who knew about that and then Arthur the vampire found out when he attacked me. I was coming from a college party and he took me away from Mom for two years. Those two years were a living hell. I gradually learned to elicit thoughts from people, as well. His thoughts were of a different language. That's where my ability of telepathy doesn't come in handy, since English is my first language and I learned Spanish, German, and a little bit of Italian, which I learned from reading his thoughts. I can't understand thoughts in other languages, though. When Arthur found out about that when he had me, he tried to block me but I could always find a way in.

I shook my head and blocked the thoughts of Arthur out. "What makes you think there's something different about me, Vampire?"

"You can't be glamoured," he stepped forward; I took one back. _I already knew that. _"My progeny tried to glamour you that night at Fangtasia, but it didn't work." I was right about that, then. "When humans can't be glamoured they are usually supernatural."

_I heard that theory long time ago. _"Are you saying that I'm an alien?" I choked out a giggle. I walked around him and crossed the room; having him half-naked and so close was making it tough to think clearly. I propped myself against the wall. "It's not my fault that your glamour didn't work on me. Okay? I'm human."

"Don't play that game with me; I know you're lying."

I didn't know if that was the truth or not. I didn't say anything. Looking at his calm demeanor was something rare; his eyes kept studying me like I was an animal in a zoo. I snapped at him. "Stop looking at me like that."

"Like what?" He moved again; he caged me with his arms to evade me from running. He buried his face in my neck. I didn't say or do anything. "You smell strange for a human." He whispered into my neck; his cold breath made me shudder. That was new; that had never happened before. My heart was beating like crazy.

I shut my eyes, relishing his scent and his cold body against mine. He smelled good; was that his cologne or his natural vampire scent? It was a deep masculine smell with hints of sweetness.I snapped out of it. I ducked beneath his arm and walked away. "Keep your distance."

"Why? Do I make you nervous?"

I jeered. "I better go." I was looking for my shoes, but I remembered I didn't have any shoes when I passed out.

"You're not going anywhere." He raised me up and threw me onto the bed. _I freaking hate their speed! _His dusky smirk widened; it was sexy I might add. "I have things to do; we'll talk tomorrow. Make yourself comfortable. You're not going anywhere any time soon."

His sexiness vanished. "This is kidnapping, Asshole."

He rolled his eyes and gaited to the door. I hopped out of bed and trailed him. "You can't be seri—"He took out a key and before I knew it, he shut the door. I sprinted to the door and jerked the handle but it budge. "Open the door! You can't keep me! This is kidnapping!" I pounded on the door and I kept screaming but nothing happened. I bashed my forehead against the door. _You're in deep shit, Chris, real deep shit. _

After ten minutes the door unlocked again. I had been trying to find a way out, but I couldn't. My only way out was through that door; whoever was behind that door was going to regret it. I rose to my feet when the door swung open. It wasn't what I expected. It was woman, around her thirties. Her hair was short, just below her shoulders; she was wearing a uniform, like a housekeeper. She seemed human; she wasn't pale.

"Hi, I'm Lola. I'm the housekeeper. It's good to finally have a human here." She said, waving her hands in the air. She had a thick Swedish accent. _So he didn't bring humans to his house?_ "Mr. Northman doesn't bring humans at all." And there was my answer; finally I had the name of this vampire, Northman. "Anyway, what time do you want me to bring your breakfast?"

"What time is it?"

"Six."

Dawn was about six-thirty. This was my only opening for escape. Maybe I wouldn't get very far, but I needed to try to get out of there. I debated on what to do for ten seconds. I didn't regret what I did next. I knocked out Lola. She gasped and fell onto the bed on her back. She bounced a bit but didn't fall off the bed.

When I pulled the handle of the door, the door swung open. I peered down the hallway. When I didn't see anyone, I stepped out of the room and shut the door. I ran down the hallway warily and as inaudibly as I could. The hallway was too long for my liking. I could almost feel Northman behind me, trying to stop me, but when I gazed over my shoulder I didn't see anything. I just kept running.

With my back flat against the wall, I peeped around the corner; there was no soul down the hall. I ran; there were doors and doors anywhere I looked. I kept waiting for someone to open a door and scream, "Human has escaped! Human has escaped!" but nothing happened. Two sturdy arms encircled my waist and lifted me from the floor when I was about to take the first step onto the stairs.

"Going somewhere, Sweetheart?" Northman voice was enraged. He was carrying me back to the room; I held onto anything to stop him, but he was too strong.

I struggled to get free from his strong arms, but every time I tried to fight, his hold stiffened on my waist. "You can't keep me here! This is kidnapping; that's against the law." I said, holding onto the door. He jerked me back into the room.

"Pam." He called out. In a flash, the blonde Vampire was in the room. She was wearing a set of pajamas in a pink color; her hair was in a ponytail. She was barefoot. "Take Lola away."

Finally, I am learning these Vampires' names. Pam's eyes widened, a reaction I don't see very often on Vampires. "What the fuck happened here?" She asked, not taking her eyes of the unconscious body of Lola on the bed.

"She'll be fine." I declared in case they were worried about Lola; Pam snapped her eyes to me for the first time. "She's just sleeping like a baby. Let go of me; you're freaking hurting me!" I glanced over my shoulder. His jaw was set.

"You did this?" She frowned**;** I nodded. Was that hard to believe? She looked back at Lola**.** "Seems that Cupcake knows how to fight."

_Did she just call me Cupcake?_ Pam sped to Lola; she scooped Lola over her shoulder and walked out of the room, closing the door behind her. That's when things got out of hand. Northman pushed me onto the bed, him on top of me. He held my chin with his hand.

"Get off me!" I said through gritted teeth. "I am not a punching bag!"

"Shut up." He growled, "From now on you will not leave this room. Do you understand?"

"You can't keep me here; this is kidnapping. That's against the law."

"I don't fucking care about your human laws." He yelled; his blue eyes speckled with fury. He let go of my chin and swung his legs to sit on the edge of the bed.

I sat up and scooted over to the other side of the bed. I had never showed fear in front of Arthur but Northman knew how to scare the shit out of me. "You can't come and take me away from my human life. You can't do this." Perhaps if I was reasonable he would understand and let me go.

He peeked over his shoulder. Using his vampire speed, he crossed the bed. He seized my ankle and yanked me to him. He was between my legs, leaning closer. He was inches away from my face. "Do you actually think I care about your human life?"

He was one of those Vampires; once he knew something was different about me, he decided to make choices for me. For a moment, I didn't see Northman, I saw Arthur, hazel eyes, short black hair, with his fangs out. I fought him back. He wasn't going to take my life away again. When his hands tried to grasp my wrists, I fought harder. I gasped when his hand touch one of my breast during his attempt to stop my wild cat fight. I gulped; Northman's eyes were glinting with lust. I couldn't believe how my body responded to his touch. Vampire or not, he was man and I wanted him too.

He leaned down and he kissed me. It wasn't a tender kiss; it was a kiss where I knew it was going too led to naughty things. I ran my hands through his hair, clenching the short blonde strands, pulling him closer to me. He growled deep in his chest. His lips were soft like the satin sheets. Everything about him was soft, his chest, back, and arms. I was right about his abs; they were amazing. I was touching him everywhere. We broke apart; my lips were swollen from the kissing. He kissed my neck; I could feel his fangs but he didn't pierce the skin. I wrapped my legs around his waist, as he shifted us into a sitting position. His fingertips traced the length of my leg up to my thigh. I arched my back and moaned when his other hand caressed my breast through my nightdress.

"Let me show you how much I want you, Christa." He whispered in my ear. He knew my name and I liked how it sounded in his husky voice. I moaned in reply.

He growled in an animalistic way, his hand stopping inches from my panties. The hand that was caressing my breast moved to the other side. My breathing became heavy as his hand move to stroke my clitoris through my panties. My hands were clenched in his hair. His touch felt amazing. It was like I was in heaven; I never felt anything like that with my boyfriend, Paul. I was a big fan of sex, but Paul wasn't, so we rarely had sex. That's one of the reasons we broke up.

I knew he could smell my arousal; I wanted him. I desired him and I didn't want this to stop, but I needed him to stop. "Stop."

"What it is?" He stopped. I stared at his fangs; they were long and sharp. "What's wrong?"

I crawled away from him. I stopped when I was at other end of the bed. "Just stop." I didn't even believe it myself; I wanted him to touch me and I wanted touch him, but I wasn't going to giving in to his lust. I spun my head to the other side.

Part of me was scared. It was my first time with a Vampire; what if he lost control and killed me? I had heard a lot of things from my friends Sofia and Anna; they said it was amazing to have sex with vampires, but I knew how strong they were. I didn't want to take something further that could kill me.

He didn't say anything; he just left the room, slamming the door loudly behind him. I ran my hand through my hair and sighed in frustration. I could imagine Anna and Sofia's face when I told them that I stopped a man when we were so close to having sex. They had been making blind dates for me since my breakup with my boyfriend, Paul, of five years. That breakup was two years ago and no man had touched me since. I sprung off the bed and paced the room back and forth.

I could still feel Northman's touch on my body, his soft lips against mine. Man, I needed to cool down. Who knew that I would be lusting over a Vampire? Something must be off in my brain. I was a little nervous with the thought of Northman and I naked, bodies moving in that bed. He could have anyone he wanted. As I thought of how old he might be, I also thought about how many women he had been with. _A lot, perhaps, _I thought wryly.

Perchance a lot of women didn't know how to say "no" to a hot Vampire who was willing to give you great sex for a night. I shook my head; I needed stop thinking about Northman's sex life. It wasn't my business. What I needed to do was to find a way out of out here. For now, I was going to keep a low profile and when I had an opportunity to escape I'd ran away. With that in my mind, I laid in bed and tried to stop thinking about Northman's amazing body and Arthur all together.

* * *

Like it? Huh? Huh?

Oh, Christa is not like Sookie! She's way different and a lot of action is coming! :D

Review, review, review, review and tell me what you think.

**Again thanks to my beta, you rock girl! **


	3. Ways Out

**CHAPTER 3: WAYS OUT**

I was playing with my hair when the door of the room unlocked. I sat upright and crossed my legs. Lola came in but not alone; a man was behind her. The man, Adrian, that's the name I heard in his mind and Lola's, wasn't tall like the vampire. He was around five-ten, in his mid-thirties, and was wearing a black suit with a white dress shirt. The black dress shoes that he wore told me that he spent a good time cleaning them. He wasn't a guard; he was just a day person, like Lola, who looked after the house while Eric and Pam were asleep in their rooms. Either way, he didn't scare me one bit.

Lola left the tray of food on the nightstand and ran out of the room. It was a miracle she didn't trip over in her haste to get away from me. I got out of bed and walked to the tray of food on the nightstand. It was mouthwatering; even the smell made my mouth water. Lola was a great cook; the salad looked fresh. It was a mixed salad with shrimp, radishes and snow peas with sesame seeds. I eyed the glass of water with ice for a few seconds before I guzzled it in a flash.

I did have the opening to read Eric's mind last night — learned his name when I got inside Lola's mind — when he came to the room to asked questions; his thoughts were exactly like Lola's.

When Lola brought my lunch on my second day at this house, I had to ask a question that was bugging me all day. I was curious to know what language they were thinking in.

"Lola?" I had inquired. Lola placed the tray of lunch on the nightstand. I was cross-legged on the bed. She looked afraid, but she gazed up to meet my eyes. "Where are you from?"

She hesitated for a moment; I hadn't talked to her since the little accident when I knocked her out, but she answered me. "I am from Sweden."

"Is this Swedish?" I gave her the piece of paper where I wrote what I had heard in Eric's mind. I had torn a page from a book and wrote it with a pen from the cleaning lady when she was in the room yesterday. "Could you please tell me what this means?" I was just curious what he thought about a lot when he came to visit me last night.

Lola blushed deeply; I was afraid she was going to faint at any moment. "W-where did you hear it?"

"Just tell me what that means."

She cleared her throat and look down at the paper to avoid my eyes. "It means: I want to fuck you so fucking hard."

_That's what he was thinking when he came to the room?!_ He didn't think about it _that_ much; he thought it twice maybe four times that night. I took the paper from Lola's hand. She nodded and walked out of the room without a second glance. Well, it seemed I wasn't the only one thinking about it that night. I had thought of Eric's body millions of times and it wasn't that hard since I had seen him half-naked. My imagination was so wild that I could actually see myself having sex with Eric that night. I snorted; it was stupid that I was lusting for a vampire.

At least this abduction wasn't half bad. I had a room, a shower, and food. When Arthur took me, I was down in the dungeon most of the time; sometimes I would get showers and a little food. For two years, I didn't see the light of day, and when I did, I cried. A sad smile spread across my lips when remembered Alex, the one who saved me from Arthur.

**. . .**

My eyes fluttered open. My vision was blurry, but when everything around me came into focus, I saw where I was. The room was a middle-sized room with a twin size bed, and the blankets were rough and cheap. There was only one window; a small metal desk was in front of the window with a metal chair. Another chair was next to the bed. I could only remember that something had attacked me and I had blacked out; my eyes went wide when I remembered that a vampire attacked me. I bolted upright and looked around me.

I wasn't alone.

He stood next to the door. He was around his mid-twenties and he had a handsome face. He was wearing a black suit with a white dress shirt, without a tie, the first buttons left undone. I had a glimpse of his smooth, pale skin. His light brown hair was naturally wavy with a jagged cut around the side and back blending it into the top jagged cut, but it was long enough to be swept back and to the side. His eyes were a light brown, but it was hard to tell at a distance. His black dress shoes squeaked on the ceramic tile floor as he walked with graceful steps to the bed, without knowing I was moving over to the edge of the bed to get away from him. My guess was right; he had light brown eyes.

I looked down and that's when I noticed that I wasn't wearing my pretty red dress from the party; instead I was wearing black yoga pants and a white V-neck tee. My heels weren't in sight; I was barefoot.

"Good evening, Christa Elizabeth." He had a thick Russian accent. _How the hell did he know my name?_ He walked to the desk and picked up a folder. "Do you use both names? You don't mind that I call you Christa, do you?

I looked around me, looking for any escape from the vampire, but I didn't have any way out. "Who are you?" I asked when I found the courage to speak to this handsome stranger. He didn't show any sort of aggression; he just stood there looking at me, watchfully.

"Well, you aren't in Shreveport anymore." His gaze was on the pages in the folder for a second; he looked at me and didn't take his gaze from me. "I'm Alexander," his eyes softened, "Your human life is over, Christa. I'm here to offer you a new one. We decided to give you second chance."

"Why? Why me?" I asked, afraid of what might be his answer. Awful thoughts crossed my mind and they weren't helping that much. My eyes welled up with tears, but I tried to swallow back the stupid salty tears that might make me look weak in front of a vampire.

"You're young, beautiful, virgin, and we know you're special." His words made me freeze for a moment; he moved around the bed and sat in the chair, "We know that you're special and it's kind of hard to come across someone like you."

There was a bad feeling at the pit of my stomach. I needed to get away from him**;** I jumped from the bed and made a run to the door, but his hand gripped my arm and twisted it behind my back.

He shoved me onto the bed, on my belly, with him on top of me, but his weight wasn't crushing me. "Easy, Love, I don't want to hurt you." I choked out a sobbed.

**. . .**

The door swung open, bringing me back to the present. Eric sure knew how to melt a girl; he looked sexy wearing his dark V-neck tee, black denim jeans, and barefoot. I was cross-legged on the floor; my back to the window. He shut the door behind him and stood there without taking his eyes off me. Much to my annoyance, his thoughts were in Swedish. _Did he ever think in English?_

"What do you want?" I spoke, after two minutes of silence. His gaze was making me uncomfortable; I didn't like how I was feeling when he was close. I feared that he would kill me at any moment if he got angry. I was angry that he had me here against my will and he didn't care one bit. I also lusted like I had never wanted anyone else before. Those feelings were always there.

"Have you changed your mind?" He was in control, but when he lost his temper, it was like devil himself was in the room with me. He propped his shoulder on the frame of the door. "Have you thought about what we talked about last night?"

My head tilted slightly to the side; I was trying to remember what happened last night, but I only remembered that I was inside his mind during our conversation. I got so lost in his mind that I couldn't remember what he was talking about. A remembered a bit, but I didn't know what he was referring to. It could've been anything. I exhaled. _Wow. Way to go, Christa, you'll get yourself killed. _

"Would you care to do a recap about it?" I rose to my feet and crossed my arms over my chest.

His jaw clenched; he gave me an angry look, but it vanished quickly. He cursed under his breath; it sounded Swedish to me. I scowled. _Fuck. Shit._ Those were the only English words I caught in his mind with the gibberish of his Swedish.

"Tell me what you are." He said taking a step forward. This time I didn't move back; I held my ground and tipped my chin up. I wasn't going to show fear to him anymore. Surprise was in his face.

I knew that I couldn't hold my secret anymore, but I wasn't ready to tell him. I was… not ready. Making a deal with him was my only way out; there wasn't any other ways out of this. I didn't know if it was going to work, though. I sighed, annoyed. "For real? You are still on that supernatural thing?"

"I tried to glamour you three times last night and it didn't work." He admitted, I gaped, that bastard. I knew that glamour didn't work on me, but I was still mad at him for trying that on me.

"What?!" I shouted irritated, "You shouldn't do that glamour thing on me."

"It didn't work." He said with an eye roll.

"It doesn't matter; you should never try it again, Eric." His eyes widened when his name slipped from my lips. Oops, I never asked his first name. I rubbed my neck; he was going to ask questions. _Goddamn it!_

"I never told you my first name."

"I know."

He moved and was a few inches away from me. I shook my head, upset that he used his vampire speed just to scare me. I had seen a lot more awful things with Arthur; speed wasn't going to scare me. He raised his brow. "How did you know my name?"

I scoffed. "I asked Lola." I lied, but I knew he was going to asked Lola later. He nodded, unconvinced; he moved to the door and walked out of the room, but he glanced over his shoulder to look at me before closing the door. Damn, I was busted.

Later that night after Eric had left the room, Lola came back with boxes from Victoria's Secret. I didn't question her; I just stared. After she left, I crawled to the boxes that were on the bed. I stared at the boxes dumbly, wondering what was inside. I knew what was inside the boxes. _He was really going to keep me here for a long time._

I sat on the floor with the boxes. I opened the first box; the box had about thirty matching pair**s** of bras and panties in different colors and patterns. I picked one bra and checked the size. _How the freak did he knows my size? _I stared down at my breasts. _How could he know I was a C-cup? Was he that experienced with women that, with a simple gaze, he knew my size?_ I shook my head and put the bra back.

The second box had a set of about twenty mists and perfumes. I did recognize some, others I didn't. _Love is Heavenly. Victoria's Secret Angel. Body. Dream Angels Heavenly._ I picked up bottle after bottle to get a sniff. I was getting a major headache with all the fragrance in the room. I put the bottles back in the box after I was finished sniffing, wrinkling my nose. I still had the smell of sandalwood, vanilla, mandarin flower, sheer violet, and amber in my nose. If I was getting a headache, I couldn't imagine how a vampire would feel with all this scent on a human.

The third box had sleepshirts and nighties in different colors and patterns. Some had the logo of Victoria's Secret on them. I picked one out; it was a long, mid-thigh tee in dark blue that had a logo, _I heart VS_, but I folded the others and put them back into the box. I was still wondering how he knew my size, or was it just an instinct that he had?

I didn't like the feeling I was having; my only escape was to make a deal with him. I had a life to go back to: the kids from the shelter, my job as a translator, Midnight, and my crazy friends Sofia and Anna. I knew deep inside that telling him everything, perhaps, would get me out of here. I shook my head to clear my mind. _Later, Christa, later. You'll think of something._

I got off the floor and piled the boxes next to the door; I reopen the first box and picked a pair of panties. I didn't want any sort of gift coming from Eric, but this was an emergency; I needed a shower. I was still in my nightshirt from two nights ago. I strolled to the bathroom to take a shower, hoping it would relax me from all the stress I was feeling.

On my third day, I was really ready to go home. I had been thinking about how to bring the deal up that I had in mind. Maybe it was the only way of getting out of this and get back to my normal life; I was ready to make a deal with the devil.

I was doing yoga when Lola and Adrian walked into the room. The boxes were still next to the door; they hadn't taken the clue that I didn't want the gifts. I sighed and sat cross-legged on the floor. Lola placed the tray in the nightstand and walked out the room with Adrian following her. I ate my dinner, and turned on the T.V.

The movie was so lame; I couldn't help but laugh in some parts. Paranormal Activity was just... not my type of scary thing. I had seen worse things in my life, like Arthur killing in front of me and vampires in all their glory at parties when Arthur had to celebrate a deal. Those vampires were wild; they were killing and drinking from the human guests Arthur had there as a gift to the vampires. That sickened me; all the girls were V addicts and Arthur had promised them a lot of V. They didn't know that they had walked to their deaths.

I knew all the laws**.** Alex told me when were alone. Arthur knew that selling vampire blood was illegal and was punishable by a sheriff, the Queen, or King, but he didn't care; he always had other vampires do his dirty work. Arthur always paid them well; sometimes I was there during the deals to read the vampire thoughts.

Arthur always threatened my mother if I didn't do what he said. Most of the time I did what he told me to do, but there were other times when I got tired of him and just wished him gone.

**. . .**

"I'm going to die aren't I?" I groaned in pain; I was broken. Everything hurt; Alex smiled wretchedly at me and laid me onto the bed I rarely used. "It…hurts."

"You aren't going to die," He said tenderly; his cold fingers touched my cheek. I shut my eyes. "You'll be okay, Angel. I promised you that."

A pained whine escaped my lips. I hated that Alex had to made promises and I hated that he had to see me like this. "I know, I know." My voice sounded small and weak as I drifted to sleep.

**. . .**

Eric came to the room before leaving for his bar. He was already dressed up; he looked sexier every time I see him. He was working those black jeans and leather jacket just fine. I rose to my feet and sat on the bed.

"Do you have a minute to talk?" I asked, not taking my eyes off him. He looked surprised that I was the first one to talk. _Yeah, what can I say? I had a lot surprises under my sleeve._

"If it's fast, I need to go the bar to help Pam." He stood inches away from me, but his moves weren't intimidating and that made me relax a little bit.

Imagining Eric carrying boxes of Tru-Blood, shirtless and wiping tables, was a sexy scene. I shook my head to block the fantasies of Eric shirtless. "I don't think what I'm about to say is going to be fast." He didn't say anything; he only frowned. "But I have to make a deal with you. I have a job; I have to go back to a lot of things that maybe you aren't aware of."

"Are you going to tell me what you are?"

I hated that he was right, but it was my only way out. I took deep breaths; what I was about to said could change my life forever. Avoiding his gaze, I focused on the door of the bathroom. "I'll tell you what's different about me, but you'll let go. I'm tired of being here, held like some sort of prisoner."

Using his vampire speed, he moved to the door of the bathroom to meet my gaze; his eyes were questioning. It wasn't what I was expecting. He didn't say anything, so I continued talking. "I don't know what I am. I only know that something is different about me. I…can read thoughts. It started when I was in my teens…it freaked me out."

"So it didn't start when you were a child?" his eyebrow was raised and his hand was under his chin.

"No. It started when I was thirteen or fourteen. Why? Should it have started when I was a kid?"

"It's the first time I've heard something like this."

That quickly upped my interested. _I'm not the only one. _"Wait. You have heard about this before?"

His answered was short and dull. "Yes."

"Can I meet this person?"

"I don't think so."

"Am I what whatever this person is?" I asked, hoping that I could finally know what kind of freak I was. Arthur didn't figure out what I was; he only cared about my ability. I had always wondered if I was an Alien.

"No."

"How can you know?" I rose to my feet and stopped a few inches from him. My heart raced at such closeness but I tried to ignore the thumping that my stupid heart was doing.

"You smell different."

I was confused; Arthur never told me I smelled different. "How so?"

He closed the distance, leaning in, and dug his nose into my neck. "Your blood smells very appealing," he inhaled deeply; I sucked in a breath. The night when we almost had sex returned to my mind. "You were turning heads when you stepped into Fangtasia that night. It's hard for vampires to ignore such sweet blood."

I gulped, pulling away from him, but he gripped my waist and lifted me up; the sudden movement of his vampire speed made me dizzy. We were at the bed; he traced my cheek down to my throat and stopped there, his thumb caressing my sensitive neck.

He leaned in and softly kissed my neck. "Can you read my thoughts?" He whispered into my neck.

My answer was short. "Yes." I avoided his gaze and the door behind him became interesting all of a sudden.

His hand cupped my chin and made me look at him. "Can you hear my thoughts now?"

I frowned; what was he talking about? I was blocking him. "No. I can elicit thoughts from people; right now I am blocking you."

"What am I thinking?" He was leaning me back; he didn't stop until I was laid onto the bed. His gaze was burning with lust.

_Wow. Okay, this wasn't part of the plan. _I let down my shield, and, oh, my God. His thoughts were in English and they were all about sex. He was thinking about where to touch me, he wanted to move his fingers along my waist up to my belly, slide up into my wet pussy, and… and other amazing things that I wished we could do right now. My legs clenched shut; it didn't matter if I closed them because he could smell my arousal. A wicked smile spread onto his lips. He knew.

"What was I thinking?" He whispered into my ear; his cold breath made me shiver with desire. I shut my eyes; I bit my bottom lip to keep that moan in my throat. "Tell me what I was thinking."

Was he really going to make me say those words aloud? He already knew; my body was responding to his naughty thoughts. The wetness in my pussy was evident, and it was increasing with his dirty words.

"Tell me what I was thinking," he demanded, growling deeply in his throat.

I cleared my throat, "You were thinking naughty things…" I said in a small voice. He shifted and I panted when I felt his hard cock against my thigh, "about me."

"Do you wish me to do that right now?"

This time I moaned. _Killed the mood, Christa, killed the mood. _"I wish to go to my house tonight." He stopped. I shut my eyes for a second and reopened them when I didn't feel his weight on top of me anymore. "We had a deal."

"I never agreed to this deal." He said nonchalantly.

I sat upright, gapping at his emotionless stare, "You can't do this. We had a deal." He didn't say anything for a while.

He ran his hand through his hair and sighed. "You may go, but you'll work for me as often as I like."

"Doing what? A dancer?" Anger was rising inside me just at the thought of dancing with little clothes in a bar full of vampires. "I'm not like that."

"No**, **Vampire business**,** and I want to know more about this ability of yours. I'll help you find out what you are."

I scoffed. "But there's a price to this deal isn't it?"

His wicked smirk widened; I immediately regretted asking that question. Before I could do anything, he was behind me, grasping my hair and tipping my head back. He bit his wrist and the hot liquid was in my mouth. His blood was sweet, but it was delicious. I tried not to drink his blood, but it didn't matter how hard I tried to remove his hand; his blood was now inside me. I knew what he was doing; same as Arthur, creating a bond.

He removed his hand, his wrist healing. I spat trying to get the blood out my mouth, but it was too late. We had a bond now.

"Don't even try to run away. I'll always find you, Christa." His voice had edge to it; his eyes were hard to read. He walked out the room leaving me stained with his blood in my mouth and running down my throat.

* * *

_Thanks for reading, what do you think? Tell me what you think about it. I want to say thank you again for the alerts/favorites and reviews. I do have plans to update Dark Lover every Friday or Saturday since I think you really deserve it. Don't forget to review. _

_Thanks again to my beta, you rocked! :D_

_Until later love..._

_OOO_

_Vanessa_


	4. Troublemaker

**CHAPTER 4: TROUBLEMAKER**

Eric had ordered Adrian to drive me home. The ride back was in utter silence; sometimes Adrian tried to made small conversation but Eric's words were roaring in my mind: Don't even try to run away. I'll always find you, Christa. Well, fuck me. I was trying to have a perfect life without vampires after what happened with Arthur and then with a simple walk into Fangtasia, I found myself in the hands of a vampire and making a deal to save my life.

Adrian dropped me off at my driveway and waited until I was inside the house before he left. There was a ton of messages from Anna and Sofia, sounding sick and worried about me. Midnight wasn't home; so, Anna or Sofia must have come home, found him, and took him with them. I wanted to call them when I got home, to tell them that I was back and that I was safe, but was four in the morning. I didn't want to wake them up at that hour, so I decided to call them early in the morning.

I knew the consequences of blood bonding. I had experienced those things when Arthur had created a bond. I was going to have enhanced strength, speed, senses, endurance, aggression, and, what I didn't like the most, a higher libido. When Arthur had me and created the bond, I wanted to jump every man's bones in the house because of my libido; I just had this desire to feel them.

There were a few things that weren't going to fade away; I'd be sexually attracted to Eric and would have wet dreams about him. He'd be able to sense my location and my emotions. I really didn't like those things. I wasn't very happy knowing that Eric was going to know my every mood, Arthur always used that to his advantaged, and I just hoped Eric wasn't like him.

The first dream I had felt _very_ real, every touch, every kiss. His hands were tracing my body, his tongue played with my nipples and pussy and his long finger delved deep into my wet pussy. With every one of his growls, I moaned; then he sunk his fangs deep into my neck. I had woken up with a thick sweat in my forehead, my heart pounding like a hammer, and my pussy was wet.

I pushed the covers aside, groaning and taking long breaths to control my beating heart. _Damn you, Eric. Damn you! _I got out of bed and marched to my bathroom. I brushed my teeth, used the toilet and then went downstairs to the kitchen to have a late breakfast at eleven in the morning. I made oatmeal with almonds and cranberries while dialing Sofia's cell. It only rang two times.

Sofia's voice was drowsy and heated, "Where the fuck are you, Perkins?!"

"Hey, relax, Darling. I'm home, safe and sound." There was rustling and whispering on Sofia's end. I knew that voice; Anna was with her.

"Don't fucking move!" Anna shouted before they hung up.

_Balls, I'm in deep shit! _I thought dryly, eating my oatmeal. I knew they were going to be into Detective Mode when they get there. Perhaps they were already in Detective Mode. When they wanted something, these two worked together to get it; it's not hard to tell them everything when they want to chop your body to pieces with their deadly glares. I was familiar with those Detective Modes mostly from our college days. I finished my breakfast and washed the dishes.

I went to the living room to wait for Sofia and Anna, turning on the T.V. to have some noise in the house. My brain wasn't glued to what was happening in the T.V. My mind was filled with the dream I had of Eric. I bit my lower lip just at the thought of feeling Eric lips on mine. Somehow, I felt different when I kissed normal humans; with Eric; I felt ready to jump him and do anything, but with humans I felt different, always dizzy among other symptoms. It was like a rush, like Vertigo. I couldn't get that; maybe it was attached to my supernatural thing? How could I know when I didn't even know what the hell I was?

"Chris! Where were you?!" Anna shouted from the foyer, making me jump in my seat. _Balls, brain just stop thinking about Eric! _"Perkins!" Midnight and Sofia were hot on her heels.

"Oh, my balls, you scared the shit out me." I put my hand on my chest, rising to my feet. Anna ran and tackled me onto the sofa. She started beating my arms with hard blows. "Ow. Ow. Anna, what the fuck?! Anna!" I tried to grasp her arms, but the damn small thing was strong. "Stop hitting me, Bitch!"

"You fucking scared me to death!" She took a final blow and got off me. She shielded her face with her hands and sobbed.

_Shit. _I hate seeing my friends worried or crying. Sofia was now next to me, embracing me. Midnight was in front of me with big happy eyes. I patted Sofia in the shoulder as she sat next to me. "I'm okay, Anna."

Anna tried to control her weeping; her hands fell limply to her side, her body trembled with another sob, and heavy tears streamed down her cheeks. "I thought the worst…" She took a long inhale, "You vanish from a vampire bar…I thought for sure that Detective Morgan was going to find you in a ditch or somewhere, lifeless."

I reached for Anna's hand and squeezed it; she squeezed back. "Who's Detective Morgan?" I asked bewildered, reaching for Sofia's hand also.

"He's a guy Sofia met a while back. When… we couldn't find you, we called him. We needed to file a missing persons report." Anna's voice was small; I wiped her tears with my sweater sleeve, but she gave me a small leer. "I thought for sure you were dead…"

"I'm okay," I cut her off. "I'm home now." _With a vampire deal and a damn bond that's going to drive me crazy with sex dreams. _

"What happened? Why did you disappear?" Sofia questioned me, clutching my hand. I looked down at our entangled hands. I had never lied to them, but they didn't know my past with Arthur. That was a thing I just wanted to put in the back of my mind.

"Something happened with a vampire; he took me and we made a deal for my freedom." I avoided their staring gaze. I petted Midnight and he licked my free hand. "I missed you too, Midnight." He licked my cheek; I couldn't help but feel happy seeing my friends and Midnight.

"Wait. What? You were with a vampire for three days?" Anna chimed in, wiggling her eyebrows, a bright smile returning to her lips. "Did you ride his willy?"

I choked on my own spit; Anna sure could speak her mind. Sometimes, it was a good thing and others, it wasn't. She could have been a great detective; her methods of investigation always worked on Sofia and me. _Still works, _I thought. I think she took my stillness as a yes because her smirk widened as if to say: "Dirty little bitch."

"For God's sake, Anna," Sofia leaned back; reaching behind me to spank Anna's forearm. "She was kidnapped by a vampire" She said thoughtfully. _Thank you, Girl, thank you._ "Did you?" She made a squeaking sound. _Was that supposed to be a bed?_ She was curious. "Christa, did you really ride his snake?"

"Don't you fucking give us the stink eye, Perkins, tells us now. Details! Details! Details!" Anna's was chanting like a cheerleader; the only thing she needed was the pom-poms. "I can't believe after two years of trying and now you ride a vampire cock."

"Okay, enough." I rose to my feet, walking away from them. I stood in front of them. They still had those curious eyes. I clenched my hands, "There were kisses during those two years! I didn't ride anybody's dick. Is that fucking clear?!" I shouted, Anna and Sofia flinched, and the table that was next to the sofa moved slightly. I blinked a few times. _What the balls?_ I shook my head; the effects of the blood were making its rounds.

"Okay, don't get all worked up, Chris." Anna's said raising her hands into the air. "But really, nothing happened?"

I sighed, sitting at the edge of the coffee table. "Well, he tried… you know…"

"And?"

"I stopped him."

"What?!" Sofia yelled, surprising us. She never lost control; she was the voice of reason in this group. Anna and I stared wide-eyed. She colored, deeply, a crimson red. I never thought that someone could have so much blood to their cheeks.

"LOL. Sofia, you're totally reddened!" Anna cracked up; I bit my lower lip to keep my laugh at bay. "You're spending too much time with Perkins."

I gasped, "Me? Have you lost your mind, Garcia? You're the pervert of this group." Anna had a proud sneer. "Okay, stop smiling like that; you're freaking me out. Are you two hungry?"

Anna jumped to her feet, "Hell yeah!"

"Come on," I took Sofia's hand in mine and pulled her to her feet. We tailed Anna to the kitchen, Midnight following behind us.

"What's his name?" Anna asked, turning on the coffee maker. Sofia walked to the fridge and looked through the food, picking out a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

I ran my hand through my hair, sighing. "He's the sheriff of the vampires."

"Wait. Eric Northman?" Anna clapped her hands together and did a little dance.

I grimaced. "Do you know him?" I asked, looking back and forth to Anna and Sofia.

Sofia shrugged and bit her sandwich; she swallowed her bite, "Yeah, everyone knows who he is in the vampire world."

"Well, I didn't…." The doorbell rang; I looked at Sofia. "Did you call Morgan?" She shook her head. _Who the hell is ringing my doorbell? _Midnight trailed me to the door.

"Adrian?" I asked surprised. Adrian smiled; he had the boxes of Victoria Secret in his arms. "What are you doing here?"

"Mister Northman ordered me to bring these gifts to you." He outstretched his arms for me to take the gifts. I shook my head, "But they're yours." His voice was a slightly hurt.

"I can't take such gifts. You need to take them back."

"Mister Northman won't be happy about that. It was his order to bring the gifts to you. Take them."

"_Take them away." _I said through gritted teeth.

"Okay, I'll take them away," he said in a small voice. I nodded and shut the door.

"Who was that?" Anna asked as soon as I stepped into to the kitchen.

"A day man from Eric," I said, shrugging. Anna opened her mouth to speak but I cut her off. "I don't want to talk about Eric anymore." They were quiet for a moment.

"Are you okay?" Sofia enquired, frowning.

No, I wasn't feeling okay; I was tired, "A little heavy-eyed."

"Oh, well, let's go to let her rest. I'm going to call Morgan, anyway, to tell him that you're back." Sofia hugged me and walked out of the kitchen, fishing her cell from her pants pocket. I looked back at Anna.

"Go rest; tonight we're going dancing." I tried to protest, but she didn't let me talk. "No, we're going and you're coming." She spun me around and shoved me out the kitchen. "Go get a good sleep for tonight."

I nodded like a five year old kid and went to my room, Midnight following me. We laid in bed, Midnight's head on my belly, me stroking his back.

Midnight wasn't beside me when I woke up. I don't know how many hours I'd slept, but it was nightfall. I sighed, gazing at the green number of the clock, seven thirty. There was note on the nightstand from Anna: _We'll get you at eight. GET READY PERKINS! _I rolled my eyes, tossing the note on the nightstand. I got out of bed and marched to the bathroom, taking off my clothing to take a shower before Anna and Sofia got there. I just let the water relax me for the stressing night I was going to face at the club.

I wrapped a towel around me and another in my hair. What I saw next on my back made me gasp; I turned around to have a better view to my back. I could see black and green veins; they were barely noticeable, but they were all over my back. Wildly, I looked through my drawers and found a hand mirror. I held it up to have a better view. Was I dying? I had never seen these before on my body; I was afraid that maybe I was having another side effect from Eric's blood. I tried to control my beating heart and breathing; I was feeling like I was going to pass out.

"Perkins, are you ready?!" Anna shouted from my bedroom door.

I cleared my unsteady throat. "Yes. I just need to change." The door from the bathroom swung opened; I gasped, spinning around to hide my back. "Anna!" She looked beautiful in her red dress; it reached below her thighs and her blonde hair was loosely styled in messy bun.

"Come on, I have seen you naked before." She strolled to me and pushed out the bathroom. Wasn't she going to say something about my back? Or wasn't she seeing what I was seeing?"Sofia is waiting for us in the kitchen. Change quickly."

I nodded dazedly. I was freaking out; maybe I was dying. "Okay, I'll change."

"Are you okay?" She asked with concern.

She had noticed this, but not my back. My response was short. "Yes."

"Perkins…"

"Nothing is wrong." I cut her off; she rolled her eyes.

"Okay, okay. We'll wait for you in the kitchen." She retorted before walking out the room, closing the door behind her. "Don't take long!" She shouted through the shut door.

I ignored what I saw in my back and changed to my dark blue dress that Anna bought me for my birthday last year; it had a wavy pin-tucked pattern and round neckline with a front slit. I applied my makeup and slipped on my black open toe pumps. I let my hair down to air dry. I made sure I had my keys, iPhone, and the things I'd need for the night in my clutch purse.

Anna and Sofia had opened a wine bottle when I walked down to the kitchen. Sofia offered me a glass and I drank it down without pausing to take a breath. I shook my head. I coughed a few times to clear my throat. "Let's go then."

The music could be heard as we made our way to the waiting line, _Hold It Against Me_ by Britney Spears was playing. There was chatter and laugher all around me; despite that the vampires were out at this time, we still enjoyed our human lives. The bouncer scanned each one of us again. We had cut the waiting line; we had been coming to this club since we were in college. The bouncer nodded his head; Anna squealed like a kid that had finally had gotten the cookie as she pulled us with her to the entrance of the club.

We made our way through the mass of people that got in our way. There were bodies everywhere, sweaty and sticky from dancing around. People were groping each other like there was no tomorrow. The neon lights could barely help us see to get to an empty table.

"What do you guys want to drink?!" Anna barked through the heavy music.

"Tequila!" Sofia yelled back; Anna turned to me.

"The same." I said; she nodded and vanished to the bar to get our drinks.

"Let's go dance!" Sofia whispered in my ear, raising me to my feet. _Turn All the Lights On _by T-Pain was now playing. "Come on!" She drew me to the dance floor. She started to dance.

I joined her, shaking my body to the sides. Just letting the music lead my body to every movement, I shut my eyes and enjoyed the music. I reopened my eyes when I felt someone watching me; across the dance floor was a man. I slowly slipped from Sofia and made my way to him. He put down his drink onto the table and met me halfway on the dance floor.

He grasped my waist and we danced together. I could smell a hint of alcohol on his breath, but I didn't care; all I needed was to feel his warm body against mine, something that wasn't cold. His hold in my waist tightened, pulling me closer to him. He kept gazing down to my lips. He shocked me when he smacked his lips to mine. I wrapped my arm around his neck, dragging him closer to feel him.

I shut my eyes as our hungry kiss grew; his hands clenched tighter around my small waist. I never felt like this when I kissed Eric. I was feeling slightly numb; my body felt loose and I kept getting this feeling of wanting more and more. It wasn't a lust kind of desire; the kiss was relaxing me and giving me a high. We broke apart; his eyes were shut tight. Before I could question him if he was alright, I was torn away from his embrace.

"What the balls?! Let go!" Whoever had grasped my arm spun me around. My jaw clenched, when I could see in the dim light. "Eric, what are you doing here?"

He didn't reply; his hand flew to the human's throat. I gasped, and got between the two. I tried pushing Eric away, but, of course, I couldn't. "Eric, stop your madness right now! Eric, you're going to kill him! Eric!" The man's face was red and he was gagging. Eric let go of the man's throat; the guy fell to the floor, gasping for air. I spun around to aid the man, but Eric's hand gripped my arm to stop me.

His eyes were murderous; I flinched. His jaw was clenched tight; his eyes were looking behind me. I looked over my shoulder just to see that the guy had run off. He dragged me through the mass of people to the exit. He didn't say anything; he just shoved people out of the way. I felt like a teenager that had just gotten caught sneaking out of the house.

"Who was that?" The exit door shut behind him; his eyes were glazed over with rage. He was trying to control himself.

"Are you insane? You could have killed him!" I hissed.

"Watch your tone," his voice was low, but deadly serious. "It wouldn't be the first human that I'd killed."

"He's just an innocent human."

"Innocent? He had his hands all over you." I couldn't look into his eyes; he scared me.

"That's none of your business, Eric." My hands clenched into fists, hating that he thought that he owned me. "You can't control my life."

With his inhuman speed, he moved closer to me. "You're mine."

I sneered, clapping my hands together, "Right, right. That's how the stupid rules of vampires work in your world, but not in mine."

"If someone touches you, they'll die." He threatened, gripping my waist as we flew into the sky.

I shut my eyes; was he going to drop me? Was he that mad that he was going to kill me? Cold air blew around us; I clenched my hands into his t-shirt. I just kept waiting for him to drop me, but nothing happened.

I reopened my eyes when I felt ground beneath my feet. I pushed him away, he moved annoyed that I had pushed him away. We were in the Fangtasia parking lot. "What are we doing here?"

"We need to talk."

"I'm not walking into that bar. I don't want vampires to see me like a Happy Meal." He rolled his eyes. He pushed me towards the dark alleyway. "Hey, stopped pushing me, okay? I'm not following a vampire into a dark corner."

"My aroma is all over you; no vampires can touch what is mine." My jaw clenched when he said those words. I knew the laws and I knew that no vampire could feed on a human that had already been claimed by a vampire. He reached to his jacket pocket, pulling out a key, and opened the back door. He raised his eyebrow.

"Oh, that."

"Come on." He instructed, annoyed.

I nodded and walked past him; I could feel his piercing gaze on my back as I strolled to the office. Just at the thought of being behind closed doors in that office with Eric, my heart started pounding wildly.

* * *

Happy Friday! :)

How about a round of applause to our lovely beta Eveamlizya? Thanks again for your hard work on editing this chapter and helping me to write this chapter! Your info did help me to write this chapter.  
Oh, thanks again for reading! Tell me your thoughts about this chapter! I want to thank again to all those who fav/alert and review, you guys are rockin' my world with every review. All review is totally welcome. :p

Until later loves...

OOO

Vanessa


	5. Easier to Run

**CHAPTER 5: EASIER TO RUN**

As soon as that door of his office was shut, I tried to keep my distance from him. I had begun to think of the dreams; I didn't trust myself being behind closed doors with Eric. He could probably smell my arousal if I started thinking about those dreams; It'd be like calling him through our bond. There was an uncomfortable silence in the air.

The office was a little messy; papers were scattered on the desk, hiding the telephone. There were boxes of True Blood along the right side of the office. Shelves were filled with boxes and papers. On the bright side, the office had A sofa. I almost ran to it to keep my distance from him, but that was pathetic; I wasn't going to run from him.

Eric rounded his desk and sat in the chair behind it. "Sit." He pointed to the chairs that were in front of the desk.

I stayed where I stood near the door, leaning my arm against the wall. I crossed my arms over my chest. "What is it that you want that couldn't wait for tomorrow?" I was still angry that he dragged me out of the club like he owned me.

He leaned back into the chair, rubbing his chin. He almost smiled…almost. "I won't bite, not now anyways."

Okay, that doesn't give me any relief. I mustered up the best bored look that I could. "Look, if you're going talk, do it now." All I wanted was to get out of this situation for a night.

Eric didn't say anything for a moment; his face flashed with anger at my use of tone. Avoiding his angered gaze, I looked at the chairs. He took me by surprise when he moved in front of me; his hand cupped my face to make me look into his eyes. His face was composed now. There wasn't any kind of emotions at all. Man, was he bipolar or something?

His touch made me shiver; it wasn't because of his cold hand, but because I remembered my dream. I bit my tongue. His eyes glanced to my lips, but he moved back to his seat. Disappointment and relief washed over me; I was disappointed because he had held back and I was relieved because I knew I couldn't tell him to stop if we had started what we hadn't finished a week ago. I wanted to read his mind, but I didn't.

"Is there something peculiar besides your telepathy?" He was back to his normal self; his voice was icy.

There were small details, but they were mostly about when I kissed humans and my sex life. I wasn't going to have a talk with Eric about my sex life. Those things were private and I didn't want him to know about those things. Perhaps they were related to what I was, but I wasn't sure. I debated on what to do for about ten seconds.

"Well…" I hesitated, clearing my throat loudly and uneasily, "when I kiss humans, I feel different."

"Different? How so?"

"I feel…" My mind went back to Paul and the few human males I had kissed during my years. "Dizziness, vertigo, and a high, but when I break contact with them, I feel normal." His face didn't have any sort of emotion as I spoke. "Do you think it's involved with whatever I am?"

"We don't know what you are. It could be." He said, standing up from his chair; he rounded the desk and sat on the edge. "Is there something else I should know?"

Unexpectedly, I felt like he knew I was holding something back. I moved away from the door and stood near a shelf filled with documents. I shook my head. "No."

"Tell me everything, Christa, if you want me to help you to found out what you are."

The sex topic wasn't going to come up tonight, but what if he was right? What if this had something to do with what I was? I wanted to find out what I was. Feeling like I was a weirdo among humans was horrible, I could read minds, but learning to block them gave me some sort of normalcy to my life. His unreadable blue eyes kept studying me; he already knew I was holding something back.

"I'm not holding anything back, if that's what you're thinking."

His face remained unemotional and calculating, "I know you're lying; you forgot the fact that I can feel you and heard you. Your heartbeat jumped when you lied."

I hated the fact that he knew I was lying; it made me angry. "It's my life; I'm not going to talk about my personal life with you."

Eric moved, stopping a few feet away from where I stood. "Tell me everything that I need to know."

I looked away from him, clenching my jaw. "No. I'm not going to talk about this with you and that's final."

The door of his office opened; Pam had her hand on her hip, looking miserably bored. "Bill and Sookie are here. They said it was an emergency." Her eyes snapped to me; she licked her lips.

"Pam." Eric said, warningly. They talked in Swedish; I looked back and forth between the two. They weren't mad or anything; Pam had a wide smile. Eric had a wicked grin on his lips; he smiling was rare. Even that smile was making me remember the way he looked at me when we were so close to having sex. At that thought, his eyes snapped to me. I had a feeling that they were talking about me. Pam rolled her eyes and walked out the office, Eric following her.

I sighed and followed shortly after. The bar was in full swing; it was precisely the same as my first night in Fangtasia. Humans and vampires were having fun. A few human females gazed at Eric who was standing beside Pam talking inaudibly; my jaw clenched. _Stupid little fangbangers! _Eric's hand seized my arm when I made my way to the door, spinning me around to face him.

"We aren't done talking." There couldn't be any sort of argument with his "I don't fuck around" tone. "Is that clear?"

I rolled my eyes, but nodded. "Go and do your business with Sookie and Bill. I just need some fresh air." Shockingly, he let go. I could feel his eyes on me as I sauntered out of the bar.

The night was a chilly one for a summer night; the sky was black, no stars in sight. The parking lot was wet and it was drizzling a bit, but it wasn't bothering me at all. I sighed and leaned back against the wall, looking up at the starless sky.

Knowing that Eric was the sheriff of Area 5 I knew he had a lot of work on his hands. Keeping a lot of vampires in order wasn't an easy charge. A lot of them murdered. It was bad for the image that vampires were trying hard to build around humans, making humans believe that they co-existed harmoniously together. _True blood keeps us alive, but in reality, the fear and lust with humans couldn't replace it, _Arthur's voice roared in my mind. I shook my head to stop thinking about Arthur.

If that Sookie and Bill had a big problem, Eric would take a lot of time. I didn't want to be outside nor inside the bar full of lusty vampires that could smell me and perhaps wanted to have a bite of me. I debated on what to do. I cursed under my breath and walked the parking lot, gazing over my shoulder just to check and see if Eric had walked out to the parking lot. There was no sight of him.

It would take me forty minutes to get home on foot. I didn't have my clutch purse with me; it was with Sofia and Anna. I didn't have money to call a cab or my iPhone to call Anna or Sofia to pick me up. I didn't have either my pepper spray or silver spray to defend me if someone attacked me. Quickly, I ran under the roof of the building when it started to pour down on me.

"Goddamnit it," I had eleven blocks to walk home; walking in the rain wasn't a sexy thing to do. A couple walked past me, sharing an umbrella and laughing. That was a perfect picture, but I couldn't help but snort. That was me two years ago with Paul, but everything had gone downhill.

The small Coffeehouse across the street looked cozy; I could see people laughing and friends sharing biscuits and coffee. Sighing I walked from my shelter and looked down both sides before crossing the street with hurried steps. The bell dinged, revealing my arrival.

The place was warm; it was better than being outside on the cold air and rain. The place itself looked comfy with sofas where people had a cup of coffee and read a book; others had their laptops out, writing. Others were talking in hushed conversations.

"Hi," said the guy behind the counter.

I smiled sweetly. He blushed deeply, worse than Anna. It was rare to see guys blush; it was sort cute. "Might I use the phone? I need to make a quick call."

He starred; his mouth formed a perfect O when he saw my appearance. I was wet; so what? He stammered, "I-I don't k-know…" he cleared his throat stridently. I gazed at his nametag, Mike. "I don't know if my boss would like that. I might get fired."

"I promise it will be a quick call, Mike. I need to call my friend."

He seemed like he was debating on what to do for a few seconds. Finally, he nodded, "Alright."

"Thank you; thank you." He handed me the cordless phone. I took it, smiling kindly; our hands touched and he colored intensely.

I dialed Sofia and Anna, but, of course, they didn't answer. My only option was Marcus or Lucas. Lucas didn't answer. I hung up irately and dialed Marcus's phone; it rang four times.

"Hey, Marcus, it's me, Christa. Where are you?"

"Okay, not even a 'hello, Marcus how are you?' I guess those things are gone." I rolled my eyes, even though he couldn't see me. "What's up, Perkins?"

"Hey, I'm stuck at a coffeehouse; please come and pick me up?"

"What are you doing there? What happened to your car?" There was music and shouting; it sounded like he was in a big party. "Tell me where you are; I'm coming to pick you up."

"I'm not interrupting something, am I?" I looked over my shoulder, just to see Mike looking at me with dreamy eyes. It didn't surprise me humans sometimes looked at me like that. What made him think that I would lay my eyes on a young guy like him? I'm twenty-eight, but I looked younger, around my twenty something. I shook my head and told Marcus where I was. "Thank you for letting me use the phone."

Mike took the phone away and nodded. "You're welcome."

I nodded and walked away. Marcus said that he could be there in ten minutes; I waited for him inside the coffeehouse. It had stopped raining, but I wasn't in the mood to be out in the cold air. Still, in the warm place, I shivered a bit. It didn't take long for Marcus to get to the coffeehouse; he parked his black Audi rs5 in the small parking lot.

"Thanks for coming," I said once I was inside the car. His almost black eyes ranked over my body. He chuckled. "What's so funny, Ass?"

"You're wet; that's got me wondering who got you wet." I knew his double meaning in that; I smacked his arm.

"Shut up and drive me home." I said, not in the mood for his innuendos. He backed up the car, did an illegal U-turned and head home.

The ride home was in silence; I was pleased that Marcus didn't question me. I didn't know what I would say to him. I don't think that he would like my answer: 'Oh, you know, I got away from a vampire that happens to be the sheriff.' He parked his car in my driveway; he opened his door and rounded the car to open my door. "Thank you."

Marcus tailed me to the porch; I tiptoed, blindly searching for the key that I kept on top of the frame of the porch.

"Oh, that tricked me. I like that. I thought you hide it beneath the rug." Marcus murmured, standing beside me.

"Nah. Everybody knows that you would hide the key beneath the rug." I opened the door and turned on the lights. What I saw shocked me. "What the fuck?"

"What the fuck happened here?" Marcus mirrored my thoughts; he outstretched his arm to stop me from walking inside the house.

The flat T.V. screen was torn from the wall; it was in the foyer, the screen crashed. My small collection of DVD's and CD's along with papers, books, and pictures frames were scattered in the foyer. The sofas were upside down, all the cushions torn apart; it seemed that the cushions were torn open with big claws or a knife.

Marcus shoved me out of the porch and to his car. He fished his cell from his jeans pocket. "What are you doing?" I asked dully. My body was shaking; I didn't know if it was because I was shaken or because I was wet and cold, perhaps both.

"Calling the cops," I could scarcely hear Marcus.

I felt like I was in a cloud. Fear crept in just at the thought of me not deciding to go with Anna and Sofia to the club; whoever got inside the house was looking for something. Horrible thoughts crossed my mind, rape and murder. I felt like I was forgetting something with all this adrenaline thrusting. _Think, Christa, think. _

"Midnight," My voice was small; Marcus wrapped his arm around my waist to stop me from going back inside the house. "Let me go; Midnight is inside the house! He can be hurt! Let go!"

"Calm down, the police are coming. You can't go inside; whoever got inside your house could be still there." Marcus was trying to calm me down.

After a minute or so, the cops arrived. Marcus and I went right to business; two officers went inside my house with their guns raised in the air, while another officer stood with me and Marcus. I told him how we found the house and that we didn't touch anything; he nodded and moved on with Marcus.

The two officers returned with Midnight behind them; he barked when he saw me and leapt to me. I crouched down to pet him.

"Everything was clear, but it's a disaster back inside. Now, Ms. Perkins, we want you to go inside and looked around and tell us if anything is missing." Officer Wesley stated, looking at his partner. I nodded and shadowed them inside the house, Marcus and Midnight following behind us.

I thought that Officer Wesley was exaggerating, but my house was a catastrophe. Everything was upside down; frames were pulled down from wall, every drawer was opened and their contents were on the floor. If I thought that the living room, kitchen and the guest rooms were bad, my bedroom was ten times worst. The mattress was torn; it looked like the tears were made with claws or a knife; all my clothing was out of my walk-in closet, the nightstand was turned over on the floor, the lamp light bulbs broken, and my underwear drawers were half shut.

"Is there anything missing Ms. Perkins?" Officer Wesley asked behind me; his partner was in the doorway looking back and forth between Marcus and me.

I nodded dazedly, "Yes, a picture frame of me. I didn't see it sitting anywhere, where it had sat every day for a year on my nightstand."

The officer nodded and we trailed them back outside; another officer had arrived. Something heavy was draped on my shoulders, making me jump on the spot. I gazed down at Marcus's coat. "Thank you."

"You're shivering," he said and walked off with the officers. I enfolded his coat tightly against my body to bring some warmth. I walked to the officers and Marcus.

"Ms. Perkins," Officer Wesley said with a curt nod, "Whoever got inside your house was looking for something and, I don't mean to scare you or anything, but I think they found it."

Everything around me faded out; I shut my eyes tightly. The only thoughts I had were of Arthur's business vampires I had met. I had met many of them and a lot of them were jealous of Arthur. Had they finally found me and wanted me now? Could the vampire have hired a human or werewolf to get inside my house if they had promised a lot of V-blood would be given to them? I had seen humans and werewolf that would do anything to get V-blood. I knew that all the things that Arthur had made me do was going to take a toll on me.

"My best advice Ms. Perkins is to go tonight and stay with a family member; you may want to call early to a company to set up an alarm system." Officer Wesley continued talking, looking back to Marcus. "Take care of her, Son."

Marcus nodded, "I'll make sure she calls Adam's Security."

The officers nodded, got inside their cars, and drove off. Marcus and I stood there until their lights vanished down the street.

"The officer is right; you can't be alone tonight. I have a spare room in my apartment." Marcus said softly, like he was trying not to scare me.

I knew that Marcus couldn't protect me from vampires, werewolves, or humans on V, but I didn't want to be alone. I nodded. "Yes. You're right; I'll pack a few things and we'll go."

Hurriedly, I went back inside the house to my room; Marcus waited on the porch while I packed a few things for the night. It was just my sleepshirt, toothbrush, and slippers, a pair of jeans and black tee. All were tossed inside a small shoulder bag. I looked to my room one last time and hurried back to Marcus.

"Eric!" I froze mid-step on the stairs; Eric had Marcus pinned to the wall. I jogged down the stairs to get to Marcus, "Let him go; he's my friend." I pulled Marcus away from Eric and dragged him inside the house. Marcus seemed like he was in some sort of trance, "Did you glamour him?"

"It's the easy way to get information from Humans when they're trying to protect someone." A lot of them used it to cause harm to humans also. That's something he forgot to add.

"What's your other method? Kill them?" Softly, I tapped Marcus shoulder.

He didn't answer my question, "You're coming with me." He said coolly, like I was used to going to his house to spend the night. "A human can't protect you like I could."

He was right, but I didn't want him to think that I needed his protection. "Marcus offered me a room in his apartment; I think I'll be alright."

"You're coming with me." Eric moved so fast that I couldn't do anything about it; he jerked Marcus outside and glamoured him to make him leave. "Christa is alright; you can leave her with me because I can protect her. Now, go home."

Marcus just left and didn't look back. I wasn't in the mood to reason with Eric; slowly, I stepped out. He wrapped his arms around me, "Wait, wait." I pushed him slightly back; he rolled his eyes angrily, "I can't leave my dog alone."

"Adrian will come and pick him up later." He said and flew us into the sky. I shut my eyes tightly as I had done earlier.

I opened my eyes when I felt land beneath my feet; leisurely, I pushed Eric away from me. Adrian was ordered to bring Midnight to Eric's home. Eric took me to the same room that I had stayed in while I was there. The Victoria Secret boxes were still in the room next to the door.

"Take that off," Eric said behind me, I spun around to face him. He pointed at Marcus's coat. "You have his scent on you."

I didn't know why it upset him, but I did what he asked, tossing the coat to the bed. I looked away; his eyes were on me. I cleared my throat. "I'm tired; it has been an eventful night." I wanted to ask what he knew, but, knowing that he glamoured Marcus, I knew that he knew everything.

After Eric had left, I took a shower; Midnight was in the room when I stepped out of the bathroom. We lay in bed and I tried to sleep, but I couldn't. My mind was worried with thoughts of vampires, werewolves, and humans on V that maybe were coming after me for the things that Arthur made me do while he had me. After hours of tossing and turning in bed, I fell asleep.

Midnight woke me up early in the morning; he was whimpering and scratching at the door. I sighed and tossed aside the covers, changed to my jeans and black tee, and stepped into my slippers. I tossed my things back into my shoulder bag and went downstairs.

Adrian took me back home; shortly after he had left, he come back, but not alone. He had come back with another man. The man was wearing a uniform from a security company.

"What's this?" I asked Adrian as the man from the security company looked around the house.

"Mister Northman ordered me to find a company to set up your house with an alarm system." He said, walking behind the man. I shook my head and walked away to clean up the mess.

There were things that I needed to replace, lamps, T.V., and other small things that I could later buy. When the man from the security company was done installing the alarm system he told me how to use it. Adrian left; soon afterwards Sofia and Anna had come by to help me clean up. They asked me why I had vanished from the club; I told them everything.

Anna squealed, "That's sexy!"

"Shut up and clean up!" I was annoyed that she was happy that Eric was acting that way towards me. "Less talk and more work!"

At noon, we were done cleaning up. Anna and Sofia left; they needed to finish something for their business they had together. I didn't have anything to do so I went to my room to change and went to see the kids from the shelter.

All the kids were happy to see Midnight; Midnight hurriedly went to the kids to play and I spent the day helping Dorothy fixing lunch and dinner. Dorothy asked me where I was in the days I was missing; I told her a big fat lie. I told her that I had decided to have a small vacation. Being back with them made me realize how much I missed them. I had missed Dorothy's cooking, Melissa the owner of the shelter, the kids, and the parents.

At nightfall, the kids convinced Melissa to have a bonfire in the backyard. The parents made a fire ring and got logs for us to sit on. There was confectionery and drinks for the kids. I was at the back with Melissa and Dorothy; Midnight was at my feet looking lazily around him. Dorothy handed me the bowl with fresh fruit and I dug in.

"Sing for us, Javier! Sing for us!" The kids chanted; Javier looked embarrassed but grabbed his guitar and sang for the kids.

Dorothy and Melissa left to bring back more candies and other things to snack on. I almost choked on the fruit when Eric stepped out from the darkness of the forest that bordered the houses. Standing up, I coughed a few times.

"What are you doing here?" I whispered, looking back at the group at the bonfire.

"Someone is coming in a week; he could help us find out what you are."

"A vampire?" I probed; he nodded. I ran my hand through my hair, "I'm not comfortable with another vampire knowing about me. Adding another vampire to my life is something I wasn't looking for."

"He's a trusted vampire. He's old; he has seen the world a lot more than I have."

"Do you think he knows what I am?" If what Eric told me was the truth, the vampire could know what I was and maybe, finally, after many years, I could know what I was. "Okay. When am I going to meet him?"

"I'll pick you up; for now, I'll be gone for a week to visit him. I'll be back, but Pam is going to check on you."

I didn't want to question his business; as a sheriff, he a lot of things to do. "Pam? I don't think she likes me."

He almost smiled, raising his eyebrow. "Oh, believe me, she does like you." Dorothy yelled my name. I looked over my shoulder; she was standing on the porch with a bowl. I looked back to Eric, but he wasn't there anymore. I sighed and walked back to the bonfire, my mind filled with thoughts of the new vampire I was going to meet in a week.

* * *

**Happy Saturday!**

Do you thought I wasn't going to update? Don't worry, we have more Eric Awesomeness this Saturday! Tell your thoughts about this chapter! I was happy writing this chapter, there's a lot coming in the next chapter. BTW question time: _Who's the vampire coming? Is someone we know?_ Tell me in your reviews!

Thanks again to my beta! You're amazing helping me with this story! A lots of love to you from me and my readers! :)

Anyway, thanks to those who fave/alert the story and review! Keep em' coming, I'm enjoying hearing your thoughts about the story. Plus, **LadyHan **I'd love to hear what's your guess! Send me a PM and tell me your guess. :D

_[Going back to write chapter six. Wanna a preview? Here ya go. Short but with whom is Christa talking to?]_

"You know it's not safe from Eric, Pam, and you to be involved in my mess that happened ten years ago. You need to talk with Eric, tell him, he's not safe if he's close to me."

"Eric, stopped listening to me years ago. I can't control him anymore."


	6. Done All Wrong

**CHAPTER 6: DONE ALL WRONG**

There weren't any more break-ins into the house, nothing missing the days that followed. There weren't any wolves dashing through my doors or humans on V trying to drag me wherever they wanted me. The break-in had my gut telling me that maybe those vampires had finally found me and wanted something from me. There was something I couldn't understand. Why were they acting now? Why did it take ten years to get to me? Why were they trying to get me? There were questions, but little answers to them.

Anna and Sofia helped in choosing the new things that needed to be replaced in the house, T.V., sofas, mattresses, and lamps. Anna gladly helped me to put everything in its place the next day while Sofia worked in the store they owned. Like Eric had said, Pam came to check on me; she wasn't happy about it, I could tell. But I knew she was following orders from Eric. Once a maker ordered his children to do something, they couldn't back away from it.

During those days, I couldn't help but wonder about the vampire I was going to meet. Who was he? Why did Eric trust him so much? The only thought that came to my mind was his maker. The relationship between maker and progeny was so loyal, loving, caring, and trusting. Arthur had showed me another version of that entirely. Arthur had always used that against his two progenies; he made them do his dirty work by selling V-blood and kidnapping virgin girls to drain them or sell them to vampires that paid a lot for them because virgin blood was hard to come by. The ones who survived, I never saw them again.

On Friday, Anna had come with me grocery shopping. I dropped the bags of groceries on the porch and opened the door; Midnight dashed inside the cold of the house. I picked up the bags and left them at the breakfast counter. When I returned back to my car, Anna was looking across the street from my house. There was a U-Haul trailer in the driveway; there was someone was moving into Mrs. Collins's home.

"I think, you're gonna have a new neighbor." Anna remarked quietly as I stood next to her, watching the U-Haul trailer. The heat was sweltering. "I hope it is someone single and hot for you." She continued, her eyes glued to the house.

"Thank you, Captain Obvious." She rolled her eyes at me; I clasped more bags into my hand. "Why are you always paring me up with everyone, Garcia?"

She gave an eye roll, "You're twenty-eight and you need to get laid. Your moods are swinging high, Perkins."

I jeered. "I don't need to get laid and stop playing Matchmaker all the time. It's getting annoying." I said over my shoulder, walking inside the house, Anna behind me.

Anna dropped the bags on the breakfast counter; she was disappointed. "I'm trying to help you, Perkins. We're getting old; we need to settle down now."

I shook my head, putting away the frozen veggies in the fridge. "I know, but I need to find that man on my own, Garcia."

"Whatever. So there's something that has being bugging me these past few days." Anna said, sitting down onto the bar stool at the breakfast bar. I scowled at her, but nodded at her to carry on. "Have you thought of having sex with Eric?"

I scratched my head, thinking. I have being thinking about Eric these past few days; most of it was because of the steamy wet dreams. I couldn't blame myself for feeling like this towards Eric; blaming the blood bond was a logical alternative, but, yeah, I couldn't stop thinking of Eric and me having sex in real life. Maybe someday it would happen and I was looking forward to it, which didn't scare me at all. "I don't know."

Anna jaw fell to the floor. "Don't play that game with me, Perkins."

"I'm not playing games, Garcia." She rolled her eyes at me; I laughed.

"Where is Eric, anyway? I haven't seen him at Fangtasia."

"I dunno where he is. I'm not controlling his goddamn life, Garcia. He's free to go wherever he wants." My mind had begun playing tricks on me lately; I could visualize Eric in a club, where he went to find a fangbanger, and fucking her. That made my blood boil, which I didn't have a goddamn right.

"Who do you think is moving?" Anna asked, biting her nail to evade my eyes.

I shrugged, leaning back onto the island that was in the middle of the kitchen. "I dunno. Maybe a big happy family?" Anna's eyes lit up; she wiggled her eyebrow and I didn't need to read her mind to know what she was thinking. She wanted to spy on the new neighbor. "No, Garcia. You're out of your mind; you're a fucking stalker."

"Just a little peek through your window, Perkins, it's not like I'm gonna go inside the house." She gave me her best sad puppy eyes. "This little!" She held out her thumb and index finger to show me how little she wanted to spy.

We had good timing; a black Jaguar XF was parking on what used to be Mrs. Collins's driveway. Whoever was inside the car was there for two or three minutes; the driver's door swung open. A man stepped out, looking up at the house. What was odd about him was that he was wearing all black, dark jeans, black tee, and black boots. There was no one else stepping out of the car. Was he single? Had he gone through a terrible divorce? Or was he trying to just enjoy his life away from parents? He looked around him, but once his eyes landed on my house, he took his time to look. His eyes stirred to the window where we stood. Anna gasped and towed me to the floor; I almost smashed my chin on the frame of the window. My jaw clenched; I shot her a dirty look and Anna made a face.

"Shit! Shit, fuck. Do you think he saw us?!" Her face was priceless. I think Spying on the New Neighbor Operation was finished. I laughed; she smacked my arm, "Don't laugh."

"I don't know, Garcia. Check yourself." I shielded my mouth to muffle another laugh, which just made Anna hit my arm harder. I winced. "Damn, Anna what do you eat? That hurt!" She ignored me.

Gradually, Anna peeked through the window, just to gasp once more and duck her head down. "Fuck! He was looking again; he gives me the creeps." She crawled to the living room; once she was safe from the window, she stood up and ran to the kitchen. I shook my head, laughing. I peeked again to check. Anna was right; he was still in the driveway, looking straight at my house. I gulped and dashed to the kitchen not looking back to the new neighbor.

We didn't talk about what had happened with the new neighbor. I also didn't tell her what happened to me. Just thinking about it gave me chills. I think Anna was still in shock a bit because she wasn't her normal self. Pam called to check on me; I told her to call if she didn't want to come to my house. Since then, she had been calling to check on me.

Around twilight, Anna left. It was too late for me to go the shelter; so, I quickly went to my room and changed into my tank and shorts, putting on my microfleece robe over it. Usually, I worked where I felt relaxed. I needed to work on the new article that I needed to translate for the Vogue English magazine I had been working for two years; then was sent to the Germany Vogue magazine. Regularly, I worked translating interviews. It was an interview of Aaron Speedman, a famous actor that starred in action movies. I shook my head and started working on the article.

_Creak. _

That small noise startled me. My fingers stopped typing the keys of the keyboard. That noise came from the porch. It wasn't Pam. Was it a wolf? Or was it a human on V? I had become paranoid since the break-in.

Standing up, I grabbed my Glock 19 from the drawer. My heart was pounding in my chest; for a moment, I thought my heart could burst through my chest. I raised the gun and aimed at the door, waiting for whoever was behind it to dash through and shoot. There was a low growl; I froze on the spot, not because of fear or anything like that; I was just waiting for the wolf that was going to dash through at any moment.

The doorbell rang; I squeaked softly. At a fast pace, I marched to the door, gazing through the peephole. Standing on my porch was the new neighbor. I opened the door, hiding the gun behind my back. How wrong I was; he was handsome and appeared older than me. Perhaps two years. My jaw almost hit the floor; he almost filled the frame of the door with his big body. He was around six-seven, hunky with tanned skin. He took his time to check me out; his brown eyes ranked my body up and down. His shoulder length hair was odd; it was dark brown with a few shades of highlights . Again, he was wearing dark clothing.

"Your dog was in my back yard," he said, gazing down at Midnight who was wiggling his tail like the big happy dog he was. "He was digging something up in the back yard."

He was acting like he never caught us eyeing him earlier. It took me a few seconds to reply. "Sorry, sometimes Mrs. Collins watched him." I hooked my finger in Midnight's collar and gently dragged him inside the house. "He didn't do any damage, right?"

"Well, yes, but don't worry I was planning on making a few changes to the yard." He said elusively, gazing behind his shoulder, leaning against the frame of the door. He stuffed his hand in the back pocket of his jeans. "It needs changes anyway."

"I can pay for any damage that Midnight did," I tried to reason with him; I didn't want him to have a wrong idea about me. "Or I could buy you a few things that you'll need for your yard."

He returned his gaze to me; he gazed at me strangely, "It's okay."

"Well, at least let me help you when you start doing the changes." I said, grinning.

"I'll keep that in mind."

Looking at him closely, his face was vaguely familiar; I felt that I had seen him before. But, I couldn't place his face. "Well…Welcome to the neighborhood," I outstretched my hand, we shook hands; what happened next was strange. When our hands touched, I heard his thoughts; well, they were just noises and there wasn't a voice inside his mind at all. I cleared my throat, "My name is Christa."

He scowled. I overlooked that and acted like nothing had happened. "Dylan. It's nice to meet you, Christa." He stepped off the porch and walked to his house. "See you around, Christa." He said over his shoulder; the way he said it sent chills down my spine.

That night, I couldn't sleep. It seemed that I couldn't sleep well these past few days at night. All my thoughts were invaded by the new neighbor. What had happened when our hands touched? That had never happened before and frankly, it terrified me. Was I developing a new ability? That sounded crazy; I couldn't. That seemed impossible; what happened was outlandish and I was going to find out if it happened again.

I woke up in the middle of the night when I heard voices outside. Pushing the covers aside, I grasped the Glock from the nightstand. Sluggishly, I walked to the window, Midnight barked quietly. I hid behind the curtains and peeped through them. Dylan was on the porch with a girl standing beside him; he said something that made the girl laugh. He shoved her against the wall, wrapping her legs around his waist, and they were totally making out on the porch. I did have a good view from my window and being on the second floor gave me a better view.

Abruptly, he spun around and looked over the girl's shoulder and gazed straight to my window; I gasped and ducked down. My heart was thumping madly; the first thought that came to my mind was vampire. He was a freaking vampire; I had a vampire neighbor, living across from me. Standing up, I sneaked a quick look through the window but there was no Dylan or girl. _That's impossible, _I thought. _He's tan; there's no indication that he's a vampire. _With that in mind, I returned to bed.

I opened my eyes; sunlight filtered through the curtains. Blinking, I got off the bed and marched to the bathroom. I used the toilet, brushed my teeth, and braided my hair. Midnight was waiting for me at the door; he followed me to the kitchen.

There wasn't any sort of activity during the daylight hours in Dylan house; God, maybe stalking ran through my veins. I was totally stalking Dylan. His car was in the driveway, but there wasn't any sort of life in that house. It looked like nobody lived there. Honestly, I was feeling paranoid having a new neighbor. For all I knew, he could be a wolf or something else. I shook my head, _God, Christa, you watch way too many criminal shows; now you think there's something weird about Dylan. _

I spent the day working on the article I didn't finish the night before. Two hours after working and I was finished; I sent the article back to the Germany Vogue company. Pam came at around nightfall; she took me by surprise and I almost blew her brains out. Eric wouldn't be so happy about that. Slowly, I put down the gun onto the table that was next to the kitchen door. "Pam."

"What is that for?" She asked, referring to the gun. "Are you in some kind of trouble?"

"What?! No. No." Shaking my head, I gazed at the gun. "No. What brings you here?"

"Whatever. I really don't care about your problems, Breather." She said, rolling her eyes, putting her hand on her hip. "Eric is going to be back at any moment. Get ready."

"I'm going to meet the new vampire tonight?" I asked, shocked. Pam rolled her eyes again; I wandered if she had ever laughed in her immortal life.

She was a lot like Eric; her response was short. "Yes. Adrian is coming to pick you up to take you to Fangtasia."

"I can get myself there, thank you." I hated that they were ordering me around; sometimes I only followed rules to not get killed. "I know my way to Fangtasia."

"That's an order." _Do you see what I mean? Eric, but she's a female version. _

"Like I said, Pam, I know how to get to Fangtasia and that's final."

Her eyes flashed, annoyed. "Human…"

My jaw clenched, "Christa; my name is Christa." I interrupted her.

She moved in a smear, closing the distance between us. That force that kept her out of my house stopped her at the edge of the kitchen door. "Watch your mouth, Human." With that, she sped off and disappeared into the darkness of the forest.

I scoffed and went to see where Midnight was. I looked on the first floor and the second floor, but he wasn't there; he had sometimes wondered off into the forest, but had always come back. _I just hope he isn't with Dylan, _I thought. I shoved my wallet and iPhone inside my fringe shoulder bag and walked downstairs.

"Midnight?" I called out, walking down the hallway to the kitchen. "Midnight?" There was no answer. I sighed and headed to my car.

The parking lot at Fangtasia was empty when I got there, which wasn't out of the ordinary since they opened at nine. We had about an hour free to talk before they opened the bar/club. I didn't know if I was dressed properly to meet this new vampire; I was in my navy skinny jeans, tank top, and ankle boots. I sat there, thinking about what was waiting for me inside Fangtasia. Sighing, I opened the door and made my way inside.

"Hello, Darlin'," A human greeted me when I stepped inside the bar. She was skinny and her blonde hair was in a ponytail. She belonged to someone; she had fang wounds on her neck. She was wearing a denim mini skirt with a black shirt that showed her red bra; the black heels she wore made her seem a bit taller.

I didn't have time to talk to her; using his inhuman speed, Eric stood a few inches away from me. God, I really had missed him. He stood like a fearless God; like always, he was wearing dark colors. Skinny Girl seemed unafraid of Eric; that made me wonder who owned her. Something inside of me boiled at the thought of Eric feeding from her. I don't know what Skinny Girl saw in me, but she flinched when I faced her.

He only said one word to Skinny Girl without offering a simple gaze to her. "Go, Ginger." She did what she was told; she disappeared through a door that had a sign Employees Only.

His eyes kept studying me; I cleared my throat and tried to walk away from him. But his hands shot to my waist and made me stay close to him. Eric pulled me closer to him; he leaned down as if to kiss me, but instead whispered. "Why are you mad?"

His hold tightened on my waist to prevent me from running away from him. My jaw clenched; I must admit, he left me waiting for that damn kiss. I removed his hands from my waist and walked to a barstool. _I don't get any; he's not going to get any._ I shut my eyes; _Christa, did you just quote Anna? Balls, fuck Anna. _Reopening my eyes, I found that Eric had closed the distance between us.

"So, is she your human?" I asked him, to break this silence. He frowned at my question.

"That's certainly not your business."

Before I could answer him, the door of Fangtasia burst opened; who I saw made me remember bad memories of my past. It couldn't be him. It couldn't be him. A hint of recognition crossed his handsome face.

**. . .**

I had freshly taken a shower on Arthur's orders. He was going to have someone down to his house and wanted me to be there to read the thoughts of this person. That's all I knew. I was on my rope when a skinny girl with a long black dress stepped inside the room. She had two small suitcases with her. She smiled broadly, grabbing the chair that was in front of the dresser with a mirror.

"Come, sit, I won't bite." She said, exposing her fangs; she leered.

"I'm Arthur's." I hated saying those words, but those words had saved my life many times from vampires.

She rolled her eyes, her smile extended. "Don't be silly; I know that darlin' and besides, Arthur doesn't like to share." She withdrew her fangs; "Now I understand the entire buzz about you."

I scowled at her. "I really don't want to hear your dumb comments right now." She snarled and showed her fangs.

She artfully worked with my hair and makeup. I really didn't know what she was doing; she had turned my back to the mirror. She had said she wanted to surprise me. After she was done with my hair and makeup, she helped get me into the new dress that Arthur had bought.

The dress was beautiful; it was long, made in a rich purple color in satin, had shinning pearls and beads on the bodice, and an open back. It draped around my neck with a side split on the right leg. She also helped slip on the silver gladiator heels.

When I saw myself in the full length mirror; it didn't look like me. My hair was loosely curled, falling in soft waves in my back. The makeup was soft, just to bring a little light to my face. The female vampire stood next to me, smiling proudly of the final results. I felt beautiful.

I could hear small muffled voices talking in the living room as I made my way downstairs. Arthur's visitor was here. It was a vampire, which wasn't a surprise. Arthur stood up, putting his arm around my waist. All he was thinking were threats towards me that I needed to behave myself. What really surprised me about the vampire was that he appeared to be in his late teens, around sixteen or seventeen. He was just a boy. Another thing that astonished me was the calm I saw in his eyes, a thing I rarely saw on the vampires I had met recently.

"Beth, I'd like you me to meet Godric, our Sheriff of Area 9."

"Nice to meet you, Sheriff," I said kindly, outstretching my hand.

"Likewise, Ms. Beth," He said in an old-fashioned way. He grabbed my hand and kissed it, making me blush.

**. . .**

There was no forgetting the times I spent with Arthur; I would recognize everyone I met and so would they, just like Godric. He didn't say anything, nor did I, but I could see that he knew me. I was eighteen when we first meet. There was no time to panic; Eric didn't need to know about me or that I knew Godric.

They started talking in Swedish, Godric's eyes darting back to me. Was he telling Eric that he knew me? That Arthur had me before? Or was he telling Eric that I was trouble? He hadn't changed a bit; well, I knew he wouldn't change, but I meant that his eyes were still calm and peaceful to look at.

"Christa," I tore my eyes from Godric and turned to Eric. "This is Godric; Godric, this is Christa."

I jumped from the barstool and acted like I didn't know him. "It's nice to meet you, Godric." I offered my hand, surprised; he took it and shook it.

"Likewise, Ms. Christa," his head spun to Eric. "So it's her? The girl you told me about."

"Yes." Eric answered; their eyes were on me. I was freaking out; they could slaughter me if they wish right now. _And no one knows you're here._

"You're right; her scent is different." Godric's voice broke down the panic I was feeling. "It could be hard to forget such a scent." His eyes locked with mine when he said that. There was a silent message that crossed between the two of us. He remembered me.

Eric was totally aware of this. He raised his eyebrow at Godric. I got lost when they started speaking in Swedish again; rising from the seat, I looked around the bar. It felt different when no one was around; it didn't look that scary like it had when I first came there. My thoughts drifted back to Arthur; he had never told me I smelled different. if he had, I could never set a foot in Fangtasia in the first place. Ginger was working, getting out bottles of True Blood and wiping tables and a few glasses.

"Christa," Eric said behind me. Godric wasn't in sight. Had he gone back to Texas?

I spun around to face him. "Yes?"

"You should go; we're going to open the bar in a few minutes and I don't want vampires to smell what's mine."

I was too shocked to get mad at what he said. "Okay. I just have a question, though." When he didn't say anything, I continued speaking. "Did you tell Godric about my ability to read minds?"

"Yes, there's nothing I can hide from him; he's my maker."

"Right. Where is he?"

"He went to do some business, but he'll be here tomorrow; we'll talk more about you then."

I nodded, walking towards the door. "Alright, see you tomorrow, then." I ambled out of the bar without looking back.

To my surprise, the business that Godric needed to do was with me. He was waiting for me on my porch. Nervously, I walked to him. "Godric, what are you doing here?" I asked, playing with my keys to avoided his eyes.

"Look at me," he demeaned softly, I obeyed and looked at him. "Does Eric know?" He stood up from the steps.

He knew that already; why was he asking me that? I shook my head. "No. You already know that. You need to convince him that I'm trouble."

He cracked a small smile, "Eric, knows what he is getting himself into." He stopped smiling, "You have to be careful. Wolves are hunting you, vampires."

"How do you know that?" I inquired quietly. Godric eyes were unreadable.

"I'm the sheriff; I know things. After Arthur was killed, all the vampires from Texas wanted to find his human." He said, thoughtful. "There been a hunt for you for ten years and they're getting close."

I couldn't put Eric or Pam at risk. This was my battle and I needed to fight it alone. I truly didn't want to see Eric, Pam, or Godric hurt because of me. "You know it's not safe for Eric, Pam, or you to be involved in my mess. You need to talk with Eric; tell him. He's not safe if he's close to me."

"Eric stopped listening to me years ago. I can't control him anymore." He closed the distance between us at a human's pace, "He can make his own decisions now."

"You know you can control him; just…" I swallowed, "just use the words, Godric. As your maker I command you."

He shook his head, "No, Beth." I froze when he used my old nickname that many vampires from Arthur used. "You'll need protection and Eric can give you that." With that said, he flew into the sky. Leaving me stunned by his words.

* * *

Happy Saturday!

Well, I hope you enjoy this chapter. I had fun writing it. BTW, I love Godric. I always picture him with a kind heart! :)  
Anyways, tell your thoughts about this chapter. All reviews are welcome! We want to keep Eric happy don't we? I think we know the answer. Yay. Enjoy your weekend having fun! Thanks to my lovely beta for working hard in this chapter, you're cool, awesome & amazing.

Thanks for the alerts/favs and reviews! Keep em' coming.

Until later...

Vanessa


	7. Caught in Fire

**CHAPTER 7: CAUGHT IN FIRE**

Darkness surrounded me; crickets sang a soft melody in the distance. Midnight was next to me; I tossed the tennis ball into the forest. He sprinted to the forest, fetching the ball. I gazed up and looked at the stars. Millions of small white dots greeted me everywhere; the moonlight gave off enough light to see a few feet away from me.

Godric's words had bothered me all day. Something I forgot to ask him was if he had told anything to Eric last night when they were talking in Swedish. Perhaps, he had. If he did, why wasn't Eric here demanding answers or asking questions?

Out of thin air, Godric landed in front of me. I jumped, placing a hand in my pounding chest. "Damn it, don't do that ever again."

"It wasn't my intention to frighten you." He stated walking at human's pace. His mouth pulled into a small smile that could have gone unnoticed by most humans.

I nodded. I needed to ask him that question that had bugged me since last night and I wanted that answered. "Why didn't you tell Eric that you knew me? Or my past with Arthur?"

"That's for you to tell, Beth. Not me." He stuffed his hands in the pockets of his coat. "Eric needs to know about your past so he can help you."

"Help me with what, Godric?"

"Look, Beth, like I said last night, vampires and wolves have been trying to find you since Arthur's death."

"That was ten years ago… I don't get why they're trying to get me."

"Vampires tend to become obsessed with things as time goes on. I'm pretty sure whoever is after you are vampires that knew Arthur."

"I'm not a thing, Godric. I'm a human being." I said frustrated that he was referring to me as a thing that could be owned by anyone. "I know how vampires work; I have seen it."

"I hate to say this, but, to vampires, humans are just things." His eyes looked haunted by memories but it vanished quickly. "In order for Eric to protect you from anything that might come, he needs to know everything. No lies." Midnight came rushing up behind Godric, growling, warning him not to get any closer.

"Midnight," I said harshly; he stopped growling and jogged to me, dropping the ball to the ground. Godric was right, but I didn't feel comfortable talking about it with Eric or any person. "I know. It's just hard to talk about those things; I did some pretty bad things that shamed me… I don't know… it's just hard to know that I can't go back and change it, Godric. If I could go back in time and retrace every wrong move that I made I would."

"Vampires and humans alike made mistakes that lead to them to think they're bad." He said softly, avoiding my gaze and looked to the sky. He said something in Swedish. "Some things aren't easy to tell, Beth." He said.

"What did you say?"

"Nothing. See you later," like last night, he flew into the sky.

I stood there with Godric's words roaring inside my head. He was right and I hated to be wrong, but vampires could become obsessed with humans. Telling my past to Eric wasn't going to be easy; it was easier said than done. Shaking my head, I walked Midnight inside the house and put new water and food in his bowls.

I slipped my shoes on and took the trash out. Midnight walked behind me; he barked at something and dashed into the forest. He mostly chased small animals; one morning, I had woke just to find a dead bird on my yard. Midnight didn't kill the bird; he just found the bird dead in the forest and had brought him to the house.

"Christa." A male voice called behind me.

I jumped, the bags falling to the ground. I rotated around just to find Dylan standing a few feet away from me. He crunched down and picked up the bags and handed them over. I took them, avoiding his touch. I didn't see him or feel him walking to me. He raised his eyebrow. Once I had let down my shield, his thoughts were normal; my nervousness disappeared.

"Hey, Dylan," I acted normal, trying to control my thumping heart. "What do you need?"

"I have some friends coming over, but I'm out of beer…"

"I'm sure I have some beers." I cut him off.

"Great."

Dylan followed me around the house to the kitchen door. I walked inside, but he stood outside, stuffing his hands in the back pockets of his dark jeans. Midnight rushed through the door to stand beside me. Uneasily, I walked to the refrigerator. I furrowed my eyebrow; Dylan's thoughts were just about a football game and his friends; he wasn't thinking about me in ways that some men did. Sometimes it annoyed me, but I couldn't call them on their disrespectful thoughts because I didn't want humans to know about my ability to read minds.

"Is Budweiser alright?" I grasped the pack that was in the fridge, shutting the door. I turned and stumbled into Dylan. I cleared my throat and outstretched my hand, "here."

"Thank you; I'll owe you one." He said; swinging the pack in one hand, beaming.

"Don't mention it; it's nothing really. I just want to be…"

"Neighborly?" He asked, amused.

"Yeah, you could say that."

"It's the first time that someone has been friendly with me in a long time."

"What do you mean by that?" I rounded the island and propped against it.

Dylan took a few seconds to answer back. "I move a lot. Mostly because of work, sometimes neighbors are nosy when I move into their neighborhood."

"All the neighbors around here are nice once you get to know them. They gave me a pretty hard time when I moved here."

"Oh, I had met Tania; she's my other neighbor. She's…" He stopped and rubbed his chin, I bit my lower lip to keep my smile from spreading. Oh, I liked his thoughts about Tania. "Mmm. I don't know how to put this without sounding like a jerk."

"I know who she is. She's a little bitchy and very gossipy." I said, acting normal when I said his thoughts aloud. "I think those are the words you were looking for?" Midnight got up from the floor and dashed out of the kitchen.

Dylan laughed, amused, "Yeah, wow, that's weird. It's like you read my mind."

I didn't have time to answer him back; Sofia and Midnight stepped into the kitchen. Dylan turned around, Sofia's mouth opened ajar into a perfect O. This was entertaining; I shook my head, smiling. I forgot to put up my shield; Sofia's thoughts floated inside my head. Her thoughts weren't that innocent about Dylan. She was comparing him to good-looking actors from movies. I didn't like to read other peoples thoughts; so, I blocked them.

Dylan turned his head to face me, his smiled widened when he saw the look of dazzle on Sofia's face. "Who's she?" He pushed my shoulder with his shoulder gently.

Entertained by Dylan, I walked to Sofia; I nudged her shoulder. She hardly looked at me. "Sofia," I said through gritted teeth.

"Yeah," she glued her eyes on me for a few seconds, then looked back at Dylan.

"I want you to meet Dylan; Dylan this is my friend, Sofia." Dylan outstretched his free hand and shook Sofia tiny hand.

"It's a pleasure meeting you, Sofia; I wish I could stay, but I have friends coming over." Dylan shook the pack of beer, "Thanks again, Christa. Good night." He said with a curt nod and strolled through the kitchen door, shutting it behind him.

"Oh my, balls, who's he?" Sofia followed me down the hallway. "Christa!"

"He's my new neighbor." I whispered, sinking into the sofa.

"Damn. He's hot." She looked over her shoulder, "Anyway, I'm here because Anna sent me."

"Why?" I asked with my eyebrow raised.

"She's wants to meet at Jerry's bar at eight. Which…" Sofia checked her wristwatch, "we have an hour to meet her."

"Alright," I rubbed my eyes, "I have to go somewhere first. I might be a little late."

"Okay, don't you be late because Anna's gonna eat me alive!" She said walking to the door. "Or Anna's gonna kill you herself."

"That's a lot of love," I joked; Sofia laughed, waved goodbye, and shut the door behind her. "Mmm. I need to go to Fangtasia a little bit early, Midnight." He cocked his head; I laughed and went to my room to grab my keys.

"Behave, Midnight." I pet him and walked out to my car.

Like last night, Fangtasia's parking lot was empty. The meeting that I was going to have with Eric and Godric was at nine; I didn't have the phone number for Fangtasia or Eric's number to tell him that something had come up and I was coming early for the meeting. I opened the door and walked inside Fangtasia. Ginger was already working with another human girl and a vampire with long black hair. He was tattooed all over his body; he was one of those vampires who wasn't good-looking like other vampires. He moved in a blur and blocked my path.

"We are closed," he said in a cold voice, baring his fangs.

This was nothing compared to what I witnessed from other vampires. "Oh, shiny." Ginger gasped and so did the other girl. I rolled my eyes at this vampire. "I came to see Sheriff Northman."

He retracted his fangs; something changed in his face, but I couldn't tell what that was. Ginger stepped in, "He's in his office."

"Thanks, Ginger." I said kindly and walked down the hallway to Eric's office. I could feel the vampire's gaze on my back; I could almost feel him attacking. I knocked twice before there was a response from Eric's office.

I opened the door; Eric was buried with paper work on his desk. "Christa, this is a pleasant surprise." He said smugly, putting the papers inside a folder and shutting them inside the desk drawer. "Couldn't stay away from me for day, I see."

I rolled my eyes and stood near the desk. "We need to speed up this meeting or whatever you're planning to do…"

"Believe me; I have something else in mind to kill the time." His eyes ranked up my body. My heart raced up at such a glance. I cursed mentally; I should have changed before coming down to meet him. I was wearing denim shorts, I had spent most of my time outside with the kids at the pool and it had been a hot day.

"Behave or I'm walking out of here." I threaten him; he gave one of his eerie smiles making my heart thumped brutally in my ribcage.

"Try it, Christa; you won't make it that far." He challenged, leaning back in his seat.

"Unbelievable," I shook my head and spun around to leave his office, but he was fast; he used his vampire speed and blocked my path. "Eric, move."

"So, tell me how the dreams are so far?" Eric lifted me up, placing me on the edge of his desk. He leaned closer to my face and breathed in my scent. "Do I please you?"

"Eric," my voice came short and breathy. All the wet dreams came into my mind; they were pleasing, everything about them, but that was a thing I wasn't going to admit out loud to him. "Eric," my hands moved to his shoulder, I attempted to push him away, but I pulled him closer.

"What?" He asked, his cold breath dancing in my hollow of my neck. I arched my back upward; his hands moved to my small of my back and pulled me to his chest. "What is it that you want, Christa?" He was being a bastard; he could smell my arousal by now and, plus, I was calling him through the bond.

His hand moved up my thigh, making small circles, getting closer to my sex. I just wanted him to move on and touch me where my body was telling him to touch. Juices gathered in my pussy at the thought of him touching me; at any moment, I was going to explode and tell him to touch me. I bit my lower lip; his hand moved up to my waist. Comparing the dreams with the real thing was something more amazing. I was hoping that I wasn't dreaming this; letting down my shield was tempting, to read his thoughts, but I refused to know what he was thinking.

He took off my tee and his hands cupped my breasts. He gave a squeeze, making me moan with desire, "Tell me what you want, Christa?" He demanded into my ear. "Tell me."

"Touch me," I said; he pulled back slightly, grinning and showing his fangs. That made me quiver under his intense gaze; he raised his eyebrow. "I want to feel you." I removed his leather jacket and black tee. My hands moved up and down, feeling his toned torso. He ripped my bra off, frightening me a little, but it vanished when we locked eyes. There was lust in his eyes and something more I couldn't place.

Eric growled and moved my hands away. He undid my shorts and threw them aside; his hand moved to my womanhood and started rubbing through my panties. His head bent down to my one of my nipples and started licking and sucking. My breathing was coming short, my heart was racing, and my pussy was burning from his touch. I just wanted him to touch me.

I stretched my arms out behind me, throwing back my head, and moaned his name. My eyes reopened and I gazed down, just to found Eric locking eyes with me as his mouth moved to my other nipple and did the same as he did to the other. His hand traveled down my belly to my panties and slipped his hand inside; his cold digits played with my clitoris. He dug two digits inside of me. His moves were steady at first, but he started to move his fingers faster and faster; his mouth never stopped frolicking with my nipples.

"Oh, Eric…oh, fuck… I'm cumming…" I said panting; at that, his fingers moved wilder inside my pussy. My hands clenched onto his shoulders.

I unfastened his jeans and briefs, his jeans falling to his knees. His shaft was enormous; for a moment, I wondered how in the world his shaft was to get inside of my vagina. My hand moved to his shaft, moving up and down, stroking in slow motions and making it hard. He growled and kissed me, his fang piercing my lip a little. We pulled apart; he leered devilishly and started kissing me again, his digits still coming in and out of my pussy.

"No, don't bite me!" I said in a whisper as I came on his fingers. His mouth was close to my neck, but he obeyed and didn't bite me. "Shit."

In his vampire speed, he shifted us; he sat at the edge of his desk and lifted me up. With a single thrust, his shaft was inside of me. My mouth fell ajar, feeling him inside left me gasping for air; I gripped his shoulders, digging my nails into them. There was a slight pain, but it vanished. It was nothing like when I lost my virginity, who knew that not having sex for two years would make it hurt again?

"Did I hurt you?" I could feel the sharp points of his fangs at my neck; he pulled back to look at my eyes.

I shut my eyes, shaking my head, "No." I moved up and down unhurriedly; he growled. "Patience, Eric."

He controlled me by my waist and moved me at steady rhythm. "Open your eyes and look at me." He cupped my chin. "I said: Open your eyes and look at me."

I reopened my eyes and found his hungry gaze. This time I didn't need to read his mind to know what he was thinking; he was lusting for me as much I was for him. He didn't let go of my waist as he hastened my movements. My hand moved to stroke his hardened balls; he growled, moving me faster. He shifted us at vampire speed, bending me over his desk.

"Say my name, say it!" He pushed harder inside of me, moving the desk slightly with his thrusts. I couldn't stop moaning his name; he leaned down and kissed the back of my neck.

His hand traveled down to my pussy and stroked my clitoris, adding more moans and pleasure, while his other hand was caressing my breast. I felt myself coming again, his thrusts came slower, and with a final hard thrust, I came. I had three orgasms that night with Eric. He had done more marvelous things than I had during my college years.

I fell limply on top of Eric, my hand caressing his torso. Eric's hand was making small circles on my back. Papers and folders were scattered on the floor along with a lamp. We stayed there for a few minutes until I remembered that two humans and a vampire were outside in the bar. I blushed deeply, knowing they had heard everything. _Facing them again was going to be uncomfortable, _I thought. I jumped from the desk and picked up my denim shorts and panties from the floor and changed to them; Eric's gaze was burning into my back.

"Where is my bra?" I asked, covering up my breasts, looking around the office. Eric's face was hard to read. "Eric."

Eric picked up his briefs and put them back on. He looked around the office and said, "Ah, here. I don't they will work, though." He held up my torn bra.

I gasped, grasping the bra from his hand. "You owe me a bra." I quickly changed back into my tee. "Where's Godric?"

"He went back to Texas; he had something to do." Eric pulled on his tee, jeans, and leather jacket.

That peaked my interest, "Did he say what the problem was?"

He scowled at my question. His answer was short. "No."

"So, what are the questions that Godric was going to ask?"

"Just family history questions," He said, picking up things from the floor at a human's pace. I thought about offering to help him, but didn't ask and started helping him pick up things. "Tell me about your family. Was there someone with ability like yours?"

I picked up a folder with papers, shaking my head. "Not that I know of." I really never meet my mother's side family, just once when I was twelve, but that was the only memory I had of my ancestors. "Not on my mother's side."

"What about your father's?" His voice was close; I gaze to the side and he was crunched next to me. He raised his eyebrow.

My answer was short. "I never knew who my father was." Talking about my father was still a touchy topic that I avoided with everyone. "Next question."

"Ask your mother; she could have answers."

I burst into laughter; "You do have a Ouija board?" my tone came harshly. I walked to the desk, placing the folders onto the desk.

"Watch your tone, Christa." Eric's voice was hard and intimidating, taking steps toward me.

"If you're going to start making threats, I'm leaving."

"Then leave; you're not helping matters right now." He rounded the desk and sat in the chair.

I didn't say a thing; I just left. Ginger and the other human gazed at me normally, but the vampire looked at me bizarrely. _Yup, he had heard everything. _I simply ignored him and walked to my car.

Later that night, I showered and went to Jerry's Bar to meet with my friends. Hours passed, making me forget, for a few hours, what was happening with Eric and about telling him all about my past with Arthur. All I was asking was for a distraction for a few hours and my friends could provide that.

The next day, I spend most of my time with the kids at the shelter reading books, playing ball with Midnight, and watching movies such as the Toy Story series, Finding Nemo, Up, E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial, the Incredibles and other kid films.

"She fell asleep?" John, Cassie's father, asked, bending down to have a better look at Cassie. We were in the middle of the movie Ratatouille, but most of the kids had already fallen sleep. The light of the T.V. shadowed his tired face. Cassie was next to me on the floor, her head resting on my belly. "I better take her to bed." I nodded.

Carefully, John scooped her up and walked out of the room, smiling at me. I smiled back. I helped Dorothy and Melissa clean up the popcorn that was on the floor. Around nine thirty, I left the shelter. Halfway to my house, I turned and drove to Fangtasia instead, ready to tell Eric about my past.

There was only a beat-up yellow car in the parking lot by the door of Fangtasia. I scowled; it was past nine and, at this hour, the bar should be open. Something twisted inside of me at thought of Eric hurt; I opened the door and made my way inside the bar.

* * *

**Happy Saturday! **

What do you think about my first lemon? Good? I hope I did good for my first lemon. Oh, tell your thoughts about this chapter. All reviews are welcome! :)  
We need to thank my lovely beta Eveamlizya for reading this and helping me out! Thanks love. Thanks again for all the awesome reviews and faves/ alerts!

Until later...

Vanessa


	8. Nobody Else

**CHAPTER 8: NOBODY ELSE**

I had stepped into something serious; all eyes were on me. The door shut loudly behind me and I raised my eyebrow and walked deeper inside the bar. I let down my shield to be sure that I had walked into something safe; I started first with the vampires. I didn't read Eric or Pam's thoughts; I only read the thoughts of the two strange vampires. The thoughts from Longshadow were rude towards the female human that was wearing a white dress. A vampire stood next to Pam; his thoughts were pretty much protective of the girl in the white dress. He looked warily to the human girl. There was a name in his thoughts: Sookie. I assumed that was the name of the human girl.

It seemed that I had walked into something serious; someone had stolen money from Eric. Who was stupid enough to steal $60,000 from Eric? I got more information from Sookie's mind. She just wanted to find whoever stole the money; pushing deeper inside her mind, I got the name of the vampire that was next to Pam. His name was Bill Compton. His eyes were on me and I held his gaze for a few seconds. He was kind of handsome, but not tall like Eric. Eric stepped in, blocking my view.

Eric grabbed my forearm and walked me to a table, as far as possible from whatever they were planning to do with the Ginger. For a second I feared for Ginger's life; I didn't know her that well, but when it came to choose between a human and a vampire, I always chose the humans.

"Stay here," Eric shot me a glance and I sank into the seat, crossing my arms over my chest. I blocked them out and stayed there quietly, waiting for this to be over.

"Ginger, this one has some questions for you. Be a good girl and answer them." Eric ordered her; a playful smirk spread onto Ginger's lips.

"Aye, aye, Master." Ginger replied, flirting with him. My fists clenched at my side; I gazed down and unclenched them. _What the hell is wrong with you, Perkins? _Sookie tried to grip Ginger's hand, but she pulled back. "Don't you touch me."

"Hold her still," Eric twirled his head to Pam. Pam obeyed and pushed Ginger from her shoulders forward.

Sookie seized Ginger's hand. "Ginger someone has being stealing money from the bar."

Ginger's face became serious when Sookie stated the stealing. "Really?"

Sookie head slightly moved to the side and after a few seconds, she spoke again. "She didn't do it."

I got up from the seat and looked narrowly at Sookie. I always knew that I wasn't the only mind reader; Eric glanced for a few seconds at me; a knowing smile spread onto my lips_. _The best decision was not to draw attention to myself; for now, I was going to pretended that I didn't know what Sookie could do. I looked away from Eric's commanding gaze.

"She didn't do it, but she knows who did."

"What?" Ginger was shocked, "Fuck you." Pam moved to her side, standing next to the table.

"Who? Who's gonna kill you? Ginger, Honey, what's his name?" Eric circled Sookie, his eyes on both of them. "It's blank...it's like her memory has been erased."

"I don't know anything, I swear." Ginger looked up at Eric; he moved next to Pam, his cold eyes on Ginger. I stood up and stood behind Eric, not liking the feeling I was feeling in my gut.

"She has been glamoured," Pam pointed out, gazing at Eric.

"It's a vampire." Sookie crooned.

At that moment, Longshadow leapt across the bar, fangs bared, and pinned Sookie down onto the table. Ginger jumped from the chair and screamed at top of her lungs. Bill was fast enough; he exposed his fangs and staked Longshadow with a beer tap through the back to protect Sookie. Eric and Pam watch unconcerned. There was a lot of blood coming from Longshadow's mouth, covering Sookie in blood. What used to be her white dress, now was stained red. Ginger vomited at the sight of blood and goo; she couldn't stop screaming. Pam rolled her eyes.

"Ginger, enough," Pam growled her name; that made her shut up.

"Humans," Eric cooed. He raised his eyebrow when his eyes plunged onto me. I just shrugged; the sight of a vampire being killed wasn't something new for me. He narrowly looked back at Bill. "Honestly, Bill, I don't know what you see in her."

Shaken, Sookie vanished to the ladies restrooms. Ginger started cleaning up the remains of Longshadow; she kept mumbling things. She, shockingly, reminded me of Celeste, a human of Arthur's; she had witnessed a lot of murders of vampires, but was always shaken about them. Bill, for the most part, was in a big mess; he had just killed a vampire in front of Eric, the Sheriff. That wasn't a clever move.

Shortly after, Eric and Bill disappeared into his office. Pam rolled her eyes and left for the bathroom with Sookie, leaving me with an agitated Ginger. I felt sorry for her; on my way to her, I almost lost my stability on the blood and goo, but I balanced myself and knelt down.

"Ginger, calm down," She freaked out and screamed an earsplitting shriek, waving her arms violently in the air fighting whatever she imagined. A few drops of blood fell on my face from the wiper; I shut my eyes and tried to control my breathing. "Fuck."

Standing up, I grunted and stormed to the bar counter and grabbed a cloth to wipe the blood off my face. Ginger susurrated an apology; I nodded and let her work. Sookie and Pam returned; Sookie was all cleaned up and changed into a black leather dress, something that perhaps came from Pam's wardrobe .

"Hi, I don't think we have been introduced; I'm Sookie." She outstretched her hand.

I shook it, gazing at Pam. I don't know what she saw in me, but a smile instantly appeared. "Christa."

"Oh, nice name."

I raised my eyebrow at Pam; she bit her lower lip. Sookie kept gazing between Pam and I; the next question that she threw almost made me fall from the barstool.

"Are you Eric's?" Sookie asked, perking an eyebrow up.

"That's none of your business," I didn't like it when strangers started asking me personal questions. "Are you interested in him? He's all free."

"What?" She shook her head, "No, I'm Bill's."

"Of course, he risked his life to save you." Pam shot me a gaze at my words. I shrugged, why lie to her? Bill did something bad that was punishable.

Sookie's face tainted with worried. "What do you mean?"

"According to vampire law, vampires cannot kill each other. Didn't you know that?" Sookie softly shook her head, her eyes sparkled with tears. "Your boyfriend is in a big mess because of you. Treasure that girl; not a lot of vampires would kill for a human. It's always the other way around."

"How do you know about vampire law?" Pam asked me; my eyes flanked to her for a few seconds.

I solely shrugged, fixing my eyes onto Sookie to avoid her eyes. "What can I say? I know a lot of things." Pam got my meaning; she didn't question me further, but I knew she had a lot of questions. "Well, it seems that Eric and Bill are gonna take a while talking. I'll come back tomorrow."

"You aren't going anywhere; the boys are almost finishing." Pam announced over her shoulder, walking down the hallway to Eric's office. "Sit tight."

I didn't want to have the wrath from an ancient vampire, so, I walked down to a booth. I laid down, using my shoulder bag as a pillow. I shut my eyes. Eric's talk might take a few minutes. Pretty much, Bill didn't have a way out; they were going to make him pay for his crime. The most scandalous thing about this in the vampire's eyes, was that he killed one of his own for a human. Massacre a vampire for a breather? Bad.

Someone exhaled worryingly, getting my attention. I winged one eye, just to found Sookie looking at me. "You know, that's disturbing." I uttered, sitting up. "What do you want?"

"Is Bill really in big trouble 'cause of me?" She asked.

"Yes."

"But that vampire was gonna kill me. All Bill did was protect me." She retorted, pacing back and forth. "I'm sure Eric will understand."

"Eric is the sheriff; his work is to bring 'justice' to vampires."

"Are you some sort of lawyer?" Sookie asked with her hand on her hip.

I shook my head, no. "I just know a few things about vampires." I lied. "Bill's crime is more serious than something like sealing V; so, he's going to be taken to the Magister."

"Seriously, you sound like ya' know a lot about vampire laws." She stated, shaking her head, but concentrating on something. Just in case she was reading my mind, I cover-up my thoughts by thinking only about Longshadow's death and Ginger screaming. She grimaced. "Anyway, what are you?"

I was taken aback with her questions, "What do you mean?"

"You must be special; Eric doesn't really like normal humans." She grinned.

"What are you?" I threw back the question at her bitterly; her smile dropped from her lips. Who the hell does she think she is to talk me like that? Like I am some sort of object that could be owned by Eric? "You must be something because you have Bill eating out of the palm of your hand."

Sookie just stared at me; she didn't have time to answer me back because Bill returned alone. He gave me a curt nod and took Sookie out of the bar without a second glance. In a moment afterwards, Pam came back to the room.

"Eric is ready to see you," She uttered, her eyes raking up my bared legs to my chest. I scowled; there was no doubt that Pam liked women. "Enjoy your time, Sugar."

"I don't play for your team."

"That's a shame; we'd have made a great team, Sweetheart." She said, walking to the exit door.

It seemed that Eric had something else in mind. Ginger was somewhere; I hadn't seen her leave the bar. I grabbed my shoulder bag and walked to Eric's office. The door was open; Eric was sitting at the edge of the desk, his hands stuffed in his pockets.

"Sit," he said indifferently, like nothing had happen between the two of us.

_Asshole. _I didn't obey, staying near the door. I could play those games, too, Northman. He wasn't going to embarrass me. "I just came to tell you something that I forgot to tell you." I remarked, deadpanned.

"What's that?"

For a moment, I gazed at him, but his expression was dead. No emotions at all. I was open, on my way to Fangtasia, to telling him everything about my past with Arthur, but now, I was just hesitating with his abrupt change. That kind of thing always made me change my mind about things. Vampires could make humans believe that they cared about them, but in the end they'll always care about one thing: themselves.

"I don't know if this has to do with the weirdo that I am, but there was a few nights ago when…" Saying those words aloud signaled crazy; there was a possibility that I had just imagined those black and green veins on my back. _They had disappeared._ "Forget it, maybe it was the blood?"

"What did you see?" Eric insisted, his face had relaxed, but his eyes were unemotional. He almost gave me the feeling that he didn't want to know what really happened that night.

"Nothing. It was the blood," This time I sounded serious about my reply. "I have a question though, how are you going to find out what I am?"

"That's my work to do, Christa. When I find out what you are, I'll tell you."

"Do you have anything right now?"

Eric paused, something unusual of him. He was trying his best to respond to my question. "Right now, no."

"Mmm. That sucks." I stifled a yawn with my hand. "I better go."

"Did you come to tell me something else?" Eric words made my sleep go away. What the hell did he mean by that? Did Godric hint to him anything?

The best option was to play dumb, "What do you mean?"

Eric moved in a blur, stopping a few inches away from me. I could smell his scent, that scent that I liked some much and had gotten used to now. "Tell me," his voice had changed; it was hoarse. His eyes settled on my breasts.

My nipples hardened at such a gaze from him; images rushed into my mind of the sex we had the night before in the same room. His shaft inside of me, his fingers… Stop it, Perkins. Now he remembered it? "What happened last night isn't going to happened again, Eric."

"Really?" His hands seized my waist, lugging me to his chest. He cast down a glance down to my lips. "Mmm."

I fought his hold, but every time I tried to fight him, he tightened his hold. "What makes you say that, Northman?" I was panting from fighting his grip.

"For one," his cold fingers pushed my hair aside; he whispered into my ear, "I can smell you."

At that I clenched my legs shut, "What the hell are you doing?"

Eric chuckled. "And Second," he gripped my chin, tipping my head to the side, exposing my neck, "I heard what you said to Sookie, Christa. And you're mine."

"Don't you dare bite me," I threatened, trying to push him away from me. His eyes were predatory, a look I had never seen before in him when we were together. "Eric." Eric wasn't that bad for a vampire; others could have bitten me already, like Arthur, but since Eric hadn't, that must mean something. Perhaps he had good in him.

His tongue licked my neck. "A simple bite and you're mine." He slurred into my neck.

I cringed and pulled my head as far as possible from him, "Stop it." Whatever game he was playing wasn't funny. Not to me. This time when I pushed him away he moved. "A bite doesn't make me yours Eric."

His spine-chilling smile made me shiver. I couldn't believe that those smiles were sexy to me. "Believe me, Christa; you're mine."

There was no way to tell him otherwise; as long that he thought that 'I was his,' I was safe from other vampires, but he didn't own me and I wasn't his. No vampire would make me his again. "I better go."

"Well, then, have _good_ dreams." Eric winked, chuckling lightly.

I ground my teeth, shaking my head. "A-hole." I muttered, leaving his office, feeling his eyes on my back.

Just as I parked my car into my driveway, Dylan's car was parking a few minutes later. He stepped out, stretching his big body upward. "Tired?"

Dylan twirled around, "You could say that." He said, walking across the street with big strides and stopping next to me. "There was a lot of work to do."

"What kind of work you do?" I asked him, leaning back into my car.

"Family business," he didn't elaborate on what kind of work, but a few illegal things crossed my mind, like a mob. I chuckled at that mindless theory. "What's so funny?"

"Sorry, I really had a bad day and everything right now looks funny." I shielded my mouth to deaden my snicker. "I'm sorry."

"Oh, let me fix that. Let's have a drink; I pretty much had a busy day at work." His eyes evaded mine, looking straight to my house.

"Right now?" I asked, getting his attention back.

"Why not? It's ten. It's a bit early." He said.

"Alright, _vamonos_." I threw my car keys to him. He caught them and smiled. We got inside the car; I snickered slightly when he struggled with the seat. He narrowly stared at me. But pushed back the seat, turned on the car, and backed up.

The ride to the bar made me apprehend something; I didn't want Dylan to have the wrong idea about this. From the corner of my eye, I peeked at Dylan. He had his eyes focused on the road; the lights of the car lit his face. I sighed and looked out the window to the buildings and people that walked the sidewalks.

Dylan parked in the parking lot of Ben's Bar, just four blocks from our home. He turned off the engine of the car. Dylan opened his door, but stopped when I didn't make a move to get out of the car; he gazed over his shoulder with a questionable look.

"Let's just get this straight, Dylan. Don't get the wrong idea…"

He cut me off, "Don't worry about it, Christa. We're just hanging out."

"Alright then," I opened my door and walked beside Dylan.

Dylan opened the door for us; he placed his hand in small of my back and guided me to an empty booth next to a window. He left, squeezing through the mass of people that was in the bar to get to the bar counter. He was intensely chatting with the girl barmaid; he returned with two beers with a big playful smirk.

"You totally have that barmaid eating of your hand; cheers to that, Casanova." I sipped my beer.

Dylan chuckled, twisting his head to gaze out the window. "Hey, what can I say?" He turned his head back to me, gulping his beer. "It's not my fault. Those genes came from my father."

There was no doubt that he was a player. I grinned, "Sure, I believe you."

"You better."

"How's your garden comin'?"

He shrugged, "For real, I haven't had the chance to make any changes. I have been very busy lately."

"Well, I hope you get around to it."

"I hope so."

**000**

We got home late, around one in the morning. I had gotten so lost in something so normal that time flew by. When I got home, I could barely kept my eyes open. Midnight followed me to the sofa; he wanted to play. I grabbed the tennis ball and tossed it to the kitchen. He ran after it; I laid down and shut my eyes. Soon, darkness enclosed on me.

A loud noise woke me up from my slumber. Midnight barked at the sound; it was raining with thunder and lightning. I sat up, rubbing my sleepy eyes. I gazed out the window at the storm that was outside. It wasn't a surprise, but Midnight didn't like them at all; he whimpered and ran beneath the table. The clock read one p.m.

I planned to go to the shelter, but there were chores that I needed to do. Usually, Maria came to help me, but she had been sick for a few months now.

By the time I was done cleaning each room and doing laundry, it was dusk. Now that the storm had finished, Midnight barked at the door. I sighed and opened the door for him. He paced the back porch; he didn't step off the porch and into the mud. Tonight was one of those rare nights without a moon and stars. After he was finished, he came back inside the house to the utility room.

I took the last basket of laundry to my room, sat on the floor, and started folding the clothing. Midnight sat beside me, with his tongue sticking out, panting. Getting up, I pet him and he licked my hand.

The doorbell rang. Midnight didn't growl this time; I grabbed the Glock 19 from the dresser, putting it into the waistband of my pants, hiding it with my tee. Midnight and I walked silently downstairs.

I checked through the peephole; what the hell is she doing here? She was wearing shorts and a white tee. I opened the door. "Sookie, what are you doing?" A second question popped in my head: How the hell did she found out where I lived? Her next words didn't shock me.

"Eric took Bill for what he did last night."

* * *

I'm sick as a dog, this headache won't go away. I can't believe we're in autumn and I'm already sick. Not cool. Let's see how I feeling this upcoming days, with any luck I'll be feel better to finish chapter 9. Really, when I'm sick I don't want to do anything but sleep and stay cozy in my bed. Anyway, I hope you like this chapter. And, oh yea, I changed the summary, I liked the summary I have now. It pretty much tells a few things that are gonna happen in the story. Ha. :D

I couldn't update on Saturday 'cause my beta was busy that's why I'm updating today. **I'll try to update this Saturday though.** :) Thanks again to all who fave/alert Dark Lover. A huge thanks to those who don't review but enjoy the story! Eric and I are _feliz_ that you're liking this story. All reviews are welcome! And I have a question: Is the story confusing y'all? I hope you answered me in your reviews.

Until later...

XXX

Vanessa


	9. Red Riding Hood & The Great Evil Were

**CHAPTER 9: RED RIDING HOOD & THE GREAT EVIL WERE**

Having Sookie in my house, without knowing how in the hell she found out where I lived, was surreal. We stood there watching each other for a few seconds. She was wearing her work tee; it had a logo from the restaurant where she worked. Hearing where she worked, rung a bell in my head. I had been there, on one occasion to Bon Temps, a few summers ago and had dined at Merlotte's Bar and Grill, but I had never seen her there.

Once I was inside her mind, I knew why she was here. She wanted any information of where Eric had taken Bill for this trial. Why did she think I could have that sort of information? Apparently, Eric had told Ginger where I lived and Sookie had found out when she went to see Ginger to ask where Eric had taken Bill. I watched her carefully; she sipped the bottle of water I had offered her.

"Eric took Bill for trial a few minutes ago." She stated again, standing up from the chair.

"And?" My voice was uninterested; I really didn't care what happened to Bill and yet, it seemed that she didn't get it. Her mind spun with different ideas on saving Bill's ass from this trial. That could be the most reckless thoughts I had ever read coming from a human. I shook my head, scoffing. "There's no way to save him; he killed Longshadow in front of Eric."

Sookie glared, "How did you know what I was thinking?"

"What?" I glared back. I replied with the most realistic answer. "You love him so much that you'd sell your soul to the devil to save him; that's noticeable Sookie. You're easy to read."

She seemed to get the logic of my answer. Her eyes shined with tears and one streamed down her cheek. "Help me." Sookie pleaded as more tears ran down her cheeks. "I need to go there and talk with whoever is gonna punish Bill for saving me."

All I did was look at her for a few seconds; I came to the conclusion that she was willing to risk her life for Bill. Then I realized that I would jeopardy my life to save Eric if necessary. Even if I could help her, what she was thinking about doing was stupid. Trying to be a hero didn't always work out in the real life. Her plan was stupid and dangerous; getting into vampires' business wasn't always a great idea. They always fought savagely and that was a thing that most humans often didn't see. I had seen it and it was ugly. _Always a bloodbath_, Arthur's words rumbled in my head.

I didn't want her to put her life in danger to save Bill. It didn't saddened me one bit when I said, "I can't help you. You came to the wrong person."

She wiped the tears with the back of her hand with a small sniffle. "Look, you're Eric's…"

"I'm not Eric's," I spat angrily. She flinched. "What makes you think that?"

"Cause' I saw you two together—"

"And that makes me his?" I jeered, running my hand through my hair. "We are just friends."

Sookie scowled, deep in thought. "Eric doesn't seem like a guy that can be friendly with anyone." She whispered. "He's a dickhead."

"Don't talk about people like that when you don't know them." I said with a dirty look. "Just get out my house."

Sookie breathed worryingly, getting back to the matter that had made her come here. "Just tell me anything, anything that might help me rescue Bill."

I rolled my eyes. "There's no way to save him, Sookie. Let me explain this, the Magister can change the sentence if they wish to. Pretty much, as I see it, Bill is a goner."

Her eyes watered again and new fresh tears flowed down her cheeks. "It can't—it can't be. He saved me."

"It doesn't matter; the Magister doesn't care." I passed her a napkin; she took it and wiped her tears. I looked away, gazing out the window of the kitchen. "Look, don't get tangled with vampire business."

"Do you think Eric will allow the Magister to give Bill such a punishment? He was a witness; he could tell him that Longshadow was gonna murder me. We had Pam, Ginger, and you. Ya'll are witnesses." She said, excited at the thought; she wiped her last tears.

I ignored her. All that Alex told me of vampire law spun in my head. Vampires were penalized if they steal from other vampires. Longshadow had done that. In case Sookie was reading my mind, I blocked her simply by thinking about something else. "Stealing wealth."

"What? What did you say?"

My head whirled to look at her. I chew my lip before replying her. I made the decision just to tell her a few facts about it. "Longshadow was stealing wealth from Eric, which vampires can't do. If a vampire is caught thieving wealth, they're punished." Sookie nodded; I sighed and continued speaking. "Eric could use that and it might save Bill's ass."

Sookie nodded, staring fixedly. _I needed to be careful while this chick is around, _I thought. I braided my hair, getting away from her. "What are you doing?"

She snapped her eyes to the floor. "Sorry. Your mind—I can hear thoughts." said Sookie; looking up again.

I nodded, "And?"

"Sometimes, I can hear your thoughts, but most of time I can't hear 'em clearly." She was puzzled about me; that I could tell.

_That's good to know. _"Oh." That was all I could say. It was the first time I'd heard something like this, but, then again, I had never met someone who was a mind reader; the fewer who knew about me the better. They weren't safe if they knew about me; now that I knew that people were trying to get me.

"You don't look surprised? Why?"

I shrugged, "I had a feeling yesterday night."

"Right." She sighed, "Thanks."

"Why are you thanking me?" I asked, stopping braiding my hair.

"For being honest with me." After that; there was an awkward moment. I walked her to her car, Midnight walking behind us. It was still drizzling. Sookie got inside her car. "Be cautious; the roads are wet." I claimed, looking at the sparkly roads.

"When are they goin' to be back?"

I avoided her eyes and looked to the few cars that were driving by. "I don't know. Tomorrow night maybe, but, then again, it depends on the Magister's verdict." Midnight ran back to the patio.

Sookie tried to turn on the car, but it shut down. She tried again; nevertheless, there wasn't any luck. She punched the steering wheel. "Fuck."

"I'll be right back," I jogged inside the house and grabbed my keys from the bowl. Sookie was waiting on the porch, her tee damp from the rain. "Come on, let me take you home."

Sookie followed me to the car; I clicked the unlock button on my key chain to get inside the warmth of the car. Sookie was trembling a bit from the icy night that was left from the rain. I got inside and waited for Sookie to get inside. She opened the door, but didn't get in; she tapped her hand over the red surface of the Camaro.

I ducked my head, gazing at her. "Well, aren't you gettin' inside?"

"I'm damp." She pointed out to the leather seats. "I'll ruin the seats."

I shook my head, laughing quietly. "Just get in." Sookie exhaled and got inside without any further nonsense. I turned the engine on and drove back off the driveway.

"Where to?" I asked, keeping my eye on the road to shun her eyes. I already knew the answer, but I didn't want her to know that. I stopped at a stop sign and took the time to gaze at her.

Sookie's eyes were on the road, but she gazed at me when I asked her the question. "Bon Temps."

"Alright." _Twenty minutes with Sookie. _

Not after five minutes on the road, Sookie sighed. Narrowly, from the crook of my eye, I watched her. She bit her lower lip. "What it is? You have a question, right?" I questioned her, staring at her for a second, and resumed my focus onto the highway.

"Yes." She cleared her throat, "Are you Eric's?"

I shut my mouth before I could insult her for not hearing what I said in my kitchen a few minutes ago. "No. I'm not Eric's."

"Oh." Sookie scowled deep in thought, "You know you need to get away from Eric. He isn't a great person."

I clenched my jaw; my hold on the steering wheel tightened. "Don't tell me what to do."

"I'm just worried about ya. Eric is not good news. He only cares about himself."

Why was I getting the impression that she was interested in him? Was she trying to push me away from him? Plus, I didn't like it when strange people told me what to do. I pulled off the road, "Shut up and get out."

"What?!" Sookie was shocked. I twirled in the seat and shot her a dirty look. "You can— you can't be serious."

"Do I look like I'm teasing?" I said through gritted teeth. "Let me set some ground rules for you, Blondie; you're not gonna tell me what to do. Get it? If I get involved with Eric, that's none of your fucking business." Sookie jaw dropped open; I turned on the car and sped off.

Sookie was quiet for the rest of the drive. I was still angry about the things she said about Eric. I might not have known Eric for long, but it seemed that he had good in him. He was helping me find out what I was. He might have some bipolar issues, but who doesn't? My mood swings could easily change Sookie just proved that.

"Turn here," Sookie muttered, pointing to a dirt road.

We drove in silence for five minutes through the road and forest. I stopped the car when we got close to a very old house in need of repairs. It had a ghostly look to it; looking at it, it was hard to believe that Sookie lived here. A light-colored border collie was on the porch; when Sookie stepped out of the car, the dog ran to her.

"Thanks for the lift," murmured Sookie petting the dog.

"You're welcome," I said. I didn't say anything else; she shut the door and walked to the porch. I waited until she was inside the house and drove away.

Midnight came rushing to me when I parked the car in my driveway. What I saw made me laugh; he barked, wagging his tail and mud flew onto the car. Quickly, I cleaned it with the sleeve of my tee.

"Come on." I rounded the house, Midnight following. "You'll get a bath, Buddy." He stood up in two legs, his two massive paws on my shoulders. "Okay, get down." He licked my cheek.

I lifted him in my arms and walked through the kitchen to the bathroom that was on the first floor to give him a bath. "I don't want mud in my floor." He barked. I shook my head; seriously, sometimes I think this dog answers me back.

Ten minutes later, Midnight was all clean and leaving to the kitchen to eat. It was a nightmare when I bathed Midnight; he always fought me, but, by now, he was used to it. He liked to jump into disgusting things during our walks. All clammy, I went to my room and took a quick shower and changed into my panties and sleep tee.

I got startled at the loud knock at my door. Heavy-eyed, I gazed at the green numbers; the clock read six p.m. I had stayed up all night watching reruns of Bones, Criminal Minds and a Tom Cruise movie. Pretty much, I went to bed around seven in the morning. Part of me stayed up all night waiting for Eric. He never came. I don't know why I was feeling like this towards Eric. _You even thought of jeopardizing your life, Perkins. _

Groaning, I got up from the sofa and walked to the door as the knocking got louder. I swung open the door, ready to scream at this person for waking me up, but I froze on the spot. The man that stood in front of me smiled in a dangerous manner. He was in his thirties; his long brown hair reached his chin. He was wearing dark jeans, a black tee, and boots.

_Stupid, stupid, Perkins! The Master wants you._ His thoughts flow into my head. He growled and his eyes changed to a spooky yellow. He was a Were. I tried to shut the door, but his massive hand stopped it. "Don't hurt yourself, Honey." He taunted.

I fled across the foyer to the back door. He growled and shifted in mid-air. I could hear his clothes tearing. I threw everything in the way of the werewolf; the table was shoved over, but that didn't stop him. I opened the doors of the kitchen and fled across the patio. I peeked over my shoulder; the black werewolf was close; with a simple paw he could have pushed me aside. _Wrong move_. More werewolves were emerging from the forest, at least five; with the one chasing me, there were six. I stopped running; the werewolves circled me. Their excited thoughts flowed inside my head; they were excited that they had trapped me. They were thinking about a Master; I couldn't grasp a name from their minds.

Midnight rushed to me, growling, baring his teeth. I don't know if it was the same werewolf that was following through the house, but a black werewolf jumped at Midnight. They chased each other into the forest, growling at each other. I soared, following Midnight. A brown werewolf stopped me; I wasn't fast enough, though. It tackled me down and my head smacked into the trunk of a fallen tree. My head was throbbing; I shut my eyes as the world spun around. Surprised, another werewolf jumped and tackled him down to the ground. They growled, baring their teeth. The werewolf shifted back to his human form.

"Di, enough," He roared. "He said not to harm her."

Most other girls would have been embarrassed to see a naked man, perhaps I could have, but the pain was still there. I didn't notice I was bleeding from my head until I saw small dark dots on my red sleep tee. My hand moved to my head; I cringed when I saw my bloodstained hand. My heart started to beat faster; I thought for sure I was going to die. I always thought that a vampire was going to kill me, but now I was dying at the hands of a werewolf. Di shifted back and started arguing with the other werewolf.

Their voices became disorientated; through heavy eyes, I could see them disagreeing. I fell onto the ground with a light thump. Another werewolf was sniffing my blood; even though I was drifting out of consciousness, I thought that was revolting. My heart was beating faster as the minutes passed; a few seconds later, I lost consciousness.

There were screams and cries far away. I tried to open my eyes to see what was happening around me, but I couldn't. My head hurt and I wanted sleep. But it didn't last, there was soft voice calling me name; I swore I knew that voice. Something cold was pressed against my cheek.

"Christa," Eric's voice was getting close. _Wait, Eric? What's Eric doing here? _"Christa, you need to drink my blood." There was something sweet in my mouth; I tighten my hold on his arm and drank gulps of his blood.

"What happened?" I asked grimily. Opening my eyes, Eric helped me get up. I clenched onto his arm as the world spun beneath my feet. I blinked a few times and looked around me. The werewolves had holes in their chest were their hearts used to be. Two werewolves were missing their heads.

As I looked around me I knew we needed to buried the bodies. I went inside the house and slipped on my shoes. Eric and I walked deep into the woods and dug a pit deep enough for the four bodies. In trips, in a blur, Eric brought the bodies of the werewolves and buried them in the same hole. I helped him buried them.

We didn't find Midnight.

Eric had a questionable look; he scooped me up bridal-style. "Shut your eyes." I obeyed and felt the cold night breeze in my body as we flew into the sky. I hid my face against his chest, breathing in his scent. Something familiar.

I had forgotten to put up my shield; Eric thoughts were rolling into my head. He had a lot of questions; I don't know if I could answer all of them tonight. Images of what happened invaded my head; only one werewolf had escaped. Two. Now I remembered that one had gone after Midnight. I didn't want to put much thought into it, but I knew Midnight was dead.

I didn't let go of Eric even when I felt ground beneath my feet. I just held onto into his chest for a few seconds; under the light of house, I could see blood on his neck and cheek. His arm snaked around my waist and led me inside his house. He led me to the room I had stayed in before. Eric didn't say anything; he left the room, but I read his mind. He was giving me time to clean up.

The shower took some time; I cleand every inch of my body. I quickly changed into a dark sleep tee from the Victoria's Secret boxes that were still in the room. Eric was seated at the edge of the bed; he had also showered. I sat next to him, keeping a certain distance between us.

"They wanted _you."_ murmured Eric, his eyes glued to the wall. "Why?"

I bit my lower lip, "I don't know." I answered honestly. I didn't know what Master they were talking about. He twirled his head; I avoided his eyes and looked to the ground. "Look, there's something I need to tell." I blocked him; I still found that reading people thoughts was a privacy violation.

"Go on."

Standing up, I exhaled. "When I was eighteen, a vampire took me." It seemd I couldn't stop myself. "He was obsessed with "Supes." He found out one night that I couldn't be glamoured and he simply decided to take me away from my human life." Eric didn't need to know the details about that night.

"And now he wants you back." His jaw was clenched; his sharp eyes snapped to me.

I shook my head, "No. He was killed ten years ago. I don't know what those Weres want from me."

"How many years did that vampire have you?" He stood up and moved at a human's pace to the window.

"Two years." I played with my damp hair and started braiding it to keep my eyes away from Eric. There was a lot to say about my past, but I didn't want to tell him all the dark things that Arthur did. It shamed me that I knew what he was doing, but I never did anything to stop him. "He had me threatened. He said that if I even thought about running away, he was going to kill my mother."

"I don't understand why they're looking for you now." Said Eric, thoughtful. He reminded me of Godric.

"A lot of strange things started happening after my first night at Fangtasia." I had become aware of that. "Arthur had a lot of vampire friends; mostly enemies. Perhaps someone recognized me that night at Fangtasia"Eric nodded, running his hand through his damp hair. My eyes flew to his toned torso; I could see it clearly through his dark blue tee. The blood that I had drank from him made me want to feel him. There was a desire for his touch. I shook my head and looked to the wall.

"You'll stay here," he stated. There was a change in his voice; he left no room to argue his decision.

"No, I'm going home. Some Weres aren't going to made me run."

"Christa," this time his voice was harsh, "you're safer in my house." Eric moved next to me in a blur.

He was right, but I always fought my battles alone and he wasn't going to change that. "Just for tonight."

He rolled his eyes, "I'm going to track the other werewolf; stay here."

"I'm not going anywhere." I said, gazing at the window. "You felt my pain…?" I asked quietly.

Eric went silent for a moment; I twisted my head to look at him. "I felt your fear first," he said, avoiding my eyes and looking beyond me to the window. With that, he left the room, shutting the door behind inaudibly.

I sighed and sank into the bed, confused. _God, he's so weird with his feelings._

* * *

_Happy Friday!_

_ I'm updating today 'cause tomorrow I'll be busy. Thanks again for the reviews, faves and alters that keeps me going writing the chapters faster. So, let me know what ya think about this chapter. Sorry if there some mistakes I decided to added a few things — I think my beta won't be happy about it. XD  
Oh, I changed the cover of Dark Lover check out the link on my profile to see it on normal size and tell me what ya think about it. I'd love to hear what ya think, it took a few hours to work on it. Well, thank you for the support! _

_Until later..._

_Vanessa_


	10. Heart of Heart

**CHAPTER 10: HEART OF HEART**

The next day, I woke up early. A pair of sweatpants and a tee was on the bed, the shoes next to them, once I stepped out of the bathroom. Plus, the bed was already made. With a puzzled look, I changed into them and walked downstairs to ask Adrian to drive me home.

The sun shades were up giving a white glow to the foyer. The house was creepily quiet. There wasn't any sort of human sounds in the house. Were they asleep? I stood on the last steps of the staircase, listening for any movement. Groaning, I round the corner leading me to a comfortable living room. A 60-inch TV was on the wall, overhead the fireplace; the couches were made of black leather, two tables at each side with a black lamp. There weren't any photo frames like you'd see in a normal house.

Two female humans were cleaning the living room inaudibly. They didn't gaze up as I stood there watching them. They were around their twenties; they had fang wounds on their necks. I cleared my throat to get their attention. "Excuse me. Do you know where Adrian is?" I asked them.

They looked bewildered; the blonde girl shrugged and looked at the brunette. _Do they speak English?_ I shook my head. _Perhaps they don't and you're here talking to them._ "Do you… speak English?" I asked slowly.

Someone snickered behind me; I twirled around mad, blowing my hair away from my face. Adrian covered his mouth, hiding his laugher with a fake cough. What was so funny? I hope he wasn't laughing at me.

"They don't speak English nor do they understand it." He said, grinning. He cast a look at the girls, he nodded, and they left the room.

I watched as they left, the brunette shot me a worried look. Surprise spread over my face; why was she worried? It died out as she rounded the corner. I puffed, crossing my arms over my chest. "What language do they speak?"

"Swedish," said Adrian, flattening his tie.

"Then how do you speak to them?" I inquired, _hand gestures?_

"I don't speak to them; Mister Northman gives them orders." Just at that moment Lola walked to Adrian; when she saw me, though, she hid behind him. She was still scared of me. Nevertheless, I smiled at her.

"Breakfast is ready," she said smiling back. "I didn't know what you wanted for breakfast so I made French toast."

Oh, she was talking to me. I shook my head. "I'm sorry—I can't stay. I gotta go." Lola was going to say something, but I spoke before she uttered a word. I turned to Adrian. "Can you take me home?"

Adrian looked at Lola anxiously. She nodded at whatever they were silently saying through their eyes. "Mister Northman gave orders to not let you go." He said, letting out a deep breath. "You're under our watch during the day, Ms. Perkins."

Eric made a decision without consulting me? "You have to be joking." They shook their heads. I inhaled, "I have things to do. I can't stay inside all day."

"Sorry that was Mister Northman orders," whispered Adrian. Not sounding slightly sorry about it. Did Eric really think Adrian could keep me here? I had two legs for God's sake; they would take me anywhere. I shook my head once again and walked to the door. Adrian yelled my name; Lola whispered something under her breath, but I kept walking pay no attention to her.

The morning air was fine; it wasn't hot yet, which was good for me. It was going to take me forty minutes get home on foot. _You better get started, Girl. _I walked down the road that led to the gates; it was a long road with forest around. The yard was so green that could easily blend in with the forest. Halfway down the pathway, I heard someone running behind me; I peeked over my shoulder and I stopped. Adrian was out breath when he reached me.

"Ms. Perkins," He said between breaths. "Let me take you home." I looked at him thoroughly, in case he was fooling me. Once I read his mind, I nodded. We walked back without talking.

Lola was on the steps; she something in Swedish angrily and stormed inside the house. Adrian opened the door for me; I thanked him, and got inside. Adrian rounded the car and got behind the wheel. He turned on the engine; a soft tune was bursting from the speakers. He drove down the path to the gates.

Anna's car was parked behind my car. I uttered profanities, Adrian cleared his throat. Once again she was going to ask questions and, this time, I wasn't sure I could answer them all. Adrian parked the car; I didn't wait for him to open the door like he had last time. Nevertheless, I thanked him for getting me home and shut the door.

The door opened before I could make it to the porch. Anna's lip was pursed in a thin line, her hand on her hip. She raised her eyebrow; her eyes followed Adrian driving away. Once the car had vanished of sight, she angled her head. "Where were you?"

I considered on reviewing her on last night's events. The Weres. The bodies that were buried in the backyard. Eric. Too complicated. "Long story."

She didn't believe it, but didn't push the topic further. "And why on earth didn't you text me?" Her voice raised; I rolled my eyes. "I was worried sick about you when you didn't answer my calls. I came home—to find you gone."

"I'm okay, alright?" _Barely._ I didn't think that saying that I was attacked by werewolves was the thing to say when my best friend was wrathful. "Eric needed help with something, you know?" I tapped my head.

Anna's eyes widened. "Oh, my balls. He knows?"

I nodded. "Yup."

"Balls." Whispered Anna, surprised.

"Now, can I get inside my house?" I asked.

"Oh, sure, Honey." Anna stepped aside and followed me to the foyer. Sofia was out on the couch, her hair framing her face. The TV was on, at a low volume. A Criminal Minds episode was on.

We didn't want to wake up Sofia so, with shushed voices we walked to the kitchen. I sank onto a barstool; Anna kept giving worried glances and I grumbled, annoyed. "What is it?" I finally asked her.

"Nothing," said Anna, biting her nail.

"Do I look like I'm in the mood to play games?"

"Okay, first off, don't take your sexual frustration out on me, okay?" Anna said with a wide smirk; I groaned. She knew how to piss me off. "Second off, where you with Eric?" She was interested.

"What if I was with Eric? There's nothing bad about it." I retorted. She swung around and looked through the cabinet. She was pleased when she found a chocolate chip cookie box. She ripped open the package, grabbed three for herself, and shoved them to me. I took two.

Anna bit into her cookie, staring through squinted eyes. She swallowed, "For God's sake, Christa. He's a vampire!"

"He's helping me find out what I am."

"And?" She was skeptical. "Maybe he's only interested in what you are not in who you are."

"Maybe you're right. But I want to know what I am. I can't— I can't continue living like I'm normal when I'm not." I chewed the cookies and finished them.

"You're normal as long as you keep that shield up." She paused, "Or are you having feelings for Eric?"

"What?!" My jaw hit the floor out of shock. These feelings I have weren't real. That was absurd. I was bonded to him which lead me to have thoughts of him and feelings I shouldn't have. But then again, I felt different with him—like I didn't have to hide what I could do and those kisses and the high I usually felt with humans. "I really want to know what I am. For so long, I have thought that, maybe, I was an alien." I admitted something I had never told anyone.

Anna exhaled noisily, "Let me tell you something; even if you're an alien, you're a hot alien." She burlesqued sympathetically.

I snorted; Anna smiled when she saw my sneer. "Jerk."

"Is Christa home?" asked Sofia from the kitchen doorway; she rubbed her sleepy eyes. Her hair was all messy, but she still looked gorgeous. I waved from my seat. She sighed, relieved, when she saw me. "God, next time, text us. Anna almost destroyed the house; if it wasn't for Dylan, she would have done it."

My eyes snapped to Anna; she shrugged almost saying: What did you want me to do? "Wait, Dylan?" How did Dylan fit the picture in finding me? Why did he care?

Sofia nodded. She turned on the coffee maker with a muffled yawn. "Yup, he was weird though, he looked so— Sherlock or something from a criminal show asking a lot of questions."

"About me?" I asked flabbergasted. My eyes swayed between Anna and Sofia; they had a funny look on their faces. "What? It's freaking me out."

"He was helping us out in finding you. I don't see anything weird about that." Anna stated, taking another cookie. "Want some?" She asked Sofia; she nodded and grabbed three cookies.

"I don't know, Man. All I know is that there's something weird about Dylan." Sofia echoed my thoughts. None of us said anything else about it, our minds thinking of Dylan. Sofia slurped her coffee; her eyes were secured on mine. "Now that you're back, we need to go back to work."

"You can come and help us unpack a few things that are going to arrive at the store." Anna offered, gazing for a second to Sofia.

Sofia nodded, "That's an excellent idea." She said over her shoulder, leaving the kitchen, drinking her coffee.

I scowled, looking closely at Anna. With Anna's look, I couldn't say no; she almost looked as if she wanted to eat me. Defeated, I nodded once. I was a sucker when it came to Anna or Sofia. "Alright."

"You only have ten minutes."

"Don't give a time." I said, taking another cookie.

As soon as Anna and Sofia were gone, I went to my room and changed to a chambray shirt, black shorts, and black vans. I padded to the bathroom and plugged in the curling iron. I stared at the mirror, a bit shocked. The sleepless nights had taken a toll on me. While the curling iron heated up, I followed the same natural makeup routine, a coat of foundation to my face and to cover up the dark circles under my eyes, bush, bronzer, mascara, and a coat of lip butter to my lips. I then moved to do my hair, opting for a natural wavy hair look. After I let the hair cool, I finger combed it. Liking the results, I walked back to the room and grabbed my shoulder bag from the bed.

I had planned to ask Dylan some questions, but his car wasn't in the driveway. It was strange to see Dylan at night only; some part of my brain reminded me that he worked. I sighed and opened the door. My iPhone buzzed; I fished the phone from my shoulder bag. It was text message from Anna: _Running late, Perkins._ I rolled my eyes and tapped a quick text back telling her I was on my way to the store.

A woman who was entering the store held open the door for me; I smiled at her and thanked her. Anna was behind the desk, buried with paper work; she gazed up as the beep announced another client entrance. There were a few customers around looking at the old, antique stuff around the store. The store had belonged to Sofia's Granny, but when she decided to sell the store, Sofia and Anna decided to buy it and run it. They had a big-fat interest for antique stuff. I, on the other hand, didn't get what they saw in it. To me, it was old, cranky stuff. If Anna and Sofia heard me say those words out loud, they'd slaughter me in no time.

Anna whistled, "Lookin' nice." I rolled my eyes though she couldn't see it; I had dark sunglasses.

"Shut up," I said, taking off my sunglasses, leaning my hip against the desk. Anna reached for the aviator sunglasses and tried them on.

"How do I look?" asked Anna, making a face behind the sunglasses. "Sexy? Or not sexy?"

"Very sexy," To get her mad, I rolled my eyes and made a face. Her hand shot out and she smacked my arm. "Manager? Where the manager? I'm being violated here!" I shouted, two women that were near shot us a glance. I wiggled my finger at Anna. "Poor guy who marries her."

"Shut up," she hissed low enough for me to hear. "She's playing around; she's a grownup, but beneath all that crap, there's still a kid living there." She stated to the two women; they scowled and they started looking at the old-crap-stuff around the store.

"Oh, burn." I giggled. "You have to come up with better comebacks."

Anna rolled her eyes, chewing her pen. "Shut up, you pussy," she retorted.

"Heard that one already, Sweetheart."

"Showing a lot of love," someone said behind me. The exit door shut behind Sofia; she had a box on her arms. She shook her head and smiled. "Act like adults, not your shoe size, alright?"

"Yes, Ma." Anna and I said in union; we twittered. Sofia rolled her eyes at us. She placed the box on the desk; I was expecting something old for the store, but they were muffins.

"You owe me a soda," I said.

"Make that a shot of tequila," she said back. I smiled.

My senses were on high alert of anything strange. I was afraid that, at ay moment, a werewolf would come into the store or something. My eyes were on all people who got near me or kept giving strange looks; I was memorizing every face, every movement. But hours passed and nothing happened in the store.

Bored to death, I snatched a Cosmo magazine from the drawer. Anna liked to read those things; she got us to read them most of the time. I turned and turned pages not interested in anything. Why didn't it have an article on how to deal with a vamp bond? Maybe on how to deal with the feelings that maybe drove you crazy thinking that you were in love with them? How to learn how to keep vampires away? How do you know if you're really in love? No, the magazine was full of sex positions, stories of relationships, and other things about sex.

My hand stopped mid-air; my mind wandered to Eric. I had thought of him most of the day; it was almost nightfall, just another twenty minutes and Eric would be up. Questions were on my mind, too, not just his face, eyes, jaw, and that kissable mouth of his. Did he track down the werewolf that ran away? Did he question him? Did figured out something about what I am? Anything at all? Was I more—

Someone poked my sides; I jumped startle in my seat, clutching the magazine into my chest like a shield. My heart was hammering madly in my chest. "What the fuck Millie."

She laughed. She didn't care that she had scare me half to death. A hand was on her back, while the other was on her eight-month belly. She inhaled deeply, still smirking. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare ya. I was talkin' and you didn't answer me."

Aware that I still had the magazine cuddled into my chest, I lowered it onto the counter. "What did you need?"

"Oh, are you reading Cosmo?" She pointed out good-humoredly. "I thought you didn't like to read 'em."

"I don't, but boredom can be a bitch and lead you to do ridiculous things." She did an 'uh-huh', not believing me. "Okay, have faith in me; I'll not get lost." She giggled. "So how was your appointment with Mr. My Fingers Are in All Vaginas?"

"Hey," Millie disputed, rubbing her belly," being pregnant is not as bad as you might think, Perkins." Ah, how much I hated that she called me that like Anna did. Everyone called me something: Perkins, Chris, Beth; it was a miracle I could keep up with all the nicknames. "But on the bright side, everything is good with my baby girl."

I stepped aside and Millie sat in the chair. "Hey, is Sofia on her office?"

"Yes. I think she was going somewhere, though. If you hurry, you can catch her."

I nodded, "Thanks." With quick steps, I went to the back rooms to Sofia's office. I knocked twice, but there was no answered. On the third knock, Sofia opened the door.

"Hey," She said, stepping aside to let me in.

"Hey, do you have a sec to talk?" I asked, gazing around her office. The right side of the wall was full with racks of brown boxes; her desk was buried with paper work and her laptop was turned on.

"Yes. Sit, sit," she rounded her desk and sat on the chair. "Is everything alright?"

"Yes. Um—" It felt so weird questioning what really happened with Dylan, but that was something I couldn't overlook, "Tell me what happened with Dylan."

She frowned; her face changed into something fearful. That put me on edge; I let down my shield and looked into her eyes. Dylan had touched the ground where the werewolves were killed; he had whispered a word 'death' and his eyes had wondered where Eric and I had walked to bury the bodies.

_Shit. _

"You okay?" Sofia's words cleared my mind; I blocked her, nodding. "Are you sure? You looked pale."

"I'm okay." I forced, but my mind was on another thing. Dylan somehow knew. He knew. How? There a lot of things going on at once for me to control them all. I had someone, probably a vampire, hiring werewolves to hunt me, Eric, and now Dylan. "I need to go."

"Are you going to see Eric?"

"No. I need to see Dylan. You know, to thank him for worrying about me."

"Oh. Alright, just be careful." She sounded so motherly that I nodded like I five year old kid.

Dylan wasn't home yet. There wasn't any light coming from his house. I stood there, watching the house across the street; I was drawn to get there and ring the doorbell to see if he was perhaps home, but I didn't. Half way to my porch, I searched for the keys and, when I looked up, Eric was on the porch. I yelped, my heart pounded in my chest. My hands clenched into fists. "Damn it, Eric."

He raised an eyebrow. "Not happy to see me, I see." He said with a sneer. He leaned back into the wall, his foot propped up against it.

I grunted. "Not when you scared me to death."

He rolled his eyes, "Humans." His eyes were fixed into mine. It almost knocked out all my breath at how handsome he looked. My eyes moved to his lips, those lips that I'd do anything to kiss again. Like reading my mind, Eric licked his lips. It almost felt like he was tempting me.

I looked to the ground, "We need to talk." It said, avoiding his eyes. _Get a grip, Christa._ I gazed up and walked up the porch; he moved from the door. I winged open the door, his hand gripped the frame of the door.

"Invited me in," he breath in, I could feel his eyes on me. He moved closer, his chest on my back; I breathed in his scent.

"What?" Crazy or not, I wasn't going invite a vampire into my house where I was safe. I shook my head. "You're crazy if you think —."

He interrupted me, somewhat mad. "I need to check that no one is hiding in your house."

Well, when he put it that way, I didn't want a werewolf or any other supernatural being hiding in my closet. I sought his eyes. God, having him this close was so tempting; all I wanted was to reach out to him and kiss him. _Bonded, bonded. _I chanted that word over and over; the bond was making me have these thoughts. With I sigh, I said, "Eric Northman, please come in."

He used his vampire speed, leaving me standing in the porch with my mouth open. I grunted and walked inside the house, shutting the door behind me. He was back in a few seconds. "Everything is clear," he said from the stairs.

"Well, at least I don't have a werewolf hiding in my closet," I meant it like a joke, but Eric didn't smile. I rolled my eyes. "It's a joke." I kicked off my vans and walked barefoot to the kitchen, Eric following me. Eric stood in the doorway, his shoulder on the doorframe, his eyes following my every move. His simple gaze was making my heart pound violently in my chest and, among other things, I wanted to jump him right there in middle of my kitchen. A smile extended on his lips, _arrogant ass,_ he was playing with me.

"So, thanks for saving me last night." I said, drifting my mind onto something else that wasn't sex with Eric. I grabbed a glass from the counter and poured some water. "Did you track down the Were that ran away?"

He pulled out a chair and sat. "No. But I found a car two miles from here; it had werewolf scent inside."

Shocked at his words, I sat across from him. "Do you think they'll come back again?"

He didn't hesitate. "If they are working for someone, they most likely will, yes."

"I never met werewolves while I was with Arthur." His eyes snapped into mine; I chewed my lower lip. "I knew about them, but never met them."

"How is it that Arthur found out about you?" asked Eric, his eyes never leaving mine.

"It's complicated." I finally answered.

"Tell me," He pressed.

I put down the glass of water and changed the angle of my body, showing him that I talking to him and I had better have his full attention. "Let it go." His expression changed to fury. Why was he getting mad when he was pushing me to tell him something I didn't want to talk about? I shut my eyes tight as images came.

"_Just let me die."_

"_Don't be afraid, human. You're mine." _

"_Please, please—"_

"_Harm won't come to you as long as you obey me."_

I reopened my eyes to find his deep gaze. "I'm not up to this, Eric. Not tonight. If you want to rot in your madness, then do so." I said, getting up. His hand shot out, grabbing my arm to stop from leaving the kitchen. I didn't fight his hold; I meant what I said. I wasn't up for his questions and demands. He got up, seizing my waist with one of his hand, the other was on the back of my neck, and he lowered his lips to mine.

We exploded in a passionate kiss. Our lips moved hungrily, devouring one another. My hands traveled to his shoulders pulling him closer to my body. I had missed his lips, his scent, all of him. Eric lifted me up, wrapping my legs around his waist. We broke apart; well, I broke the kiss to get air. Panting, I looked into his eyes.

* * *

Thanks again for the reviews, alerts / faves! I'm happy that readers are following and commenting Dark Lover. Let's just say that you'll like the next chapter._ A lot of exciting things are happening._ So, review and tell me what you think about this chapter. Thanks again for my beta, you're awesome without you I wouldn't be writing this story so thank you, love. :D

Well, thanks for reading.

Until later...

Vanessa


	11. You Drive Me Wild

**CHAPTER 11: YOU DRIVE ME WILD**

Eric positioned me on the edge of the counter. I pulled him close and kissed him; we moaned in unison. I helped him with his t-shirt. Keenly, my hands touched every inch of his chest and back. He leaned down and kissed me again.

His hands moved up my side, took off my tee, and tossed it to the floor. His fingertips outlined the framed of the bra. I moaned, waiting for his touch. He lowered his head, kissing my breasts softly. My back arched upward; he trailed kisses to my collar. He tipped my head to the side and tenderly kissed my neck.

Eric unhooked my bra. His fingers pinched and twisted my nipple. His hand moved to my other breast and gave it the same attention. Juice was gathering between my thighs, ready for Eric. I wrapped my legs around his waist and pulled him closer, feeling his hard shaft through his jeans. I moved my hips, my pussy getting wetter.

"Eric." My eyes locked with his; I tightened my hands on his shoulders. "Touch me." His mouth lowered to my nipple and gave it a long lick; he then moved to the other breast, his tongue fondling around with my nipples.

I undid his jeans; stroking his hard-on through his briefs with my hand. "Ah—fuck." He murmured into the hollow of my neck. With that approval I continued with my attack. He smashed his lips in mine, passionately. His hand was on the back of my neck, deepening our kiss. My hands moved to his behind and squeezed his hard ass. He snarled— his phone rang.

He growled and snatched his phone from the back pocket of his jeans. "It's Pam." He said with a scowl.

I picked up my bra and put it back on, but Eric stopped me halfway. He shook his head; I sighed. "Eric."

"Pam…Yes… what?" His jaw clenched; he swore in Swedish. It sounded sexy when he was angry. His hand moved from mine; quickly I buttoned the bra back on. "Tell 'em not to move; I'll be there soon." He growled and snapped his phone shut.

Eric pulled his jeans on and picked up his shirt. "I need to go." His arm enfolded my waist and dragged me closer to him, "This is not over, Christa." He said and kissed me, leaving me out of breath.

We pulled apart, his lustful eyes piercing through mine. I nodded, awed. "Okay."

Dylan's car wasn't in the driveway; I still rang the doorbell, but there was no answer. Images of what I saw from Sofia's mind were still fresh; somehow Dylan knew about the murders of the werewolves and all I had planned was to read his mind to see if I could get a glimpse of anything about how he figured that out.

I had to agree with Sofia; he was weird. Perhaps he wasn't anything, but I wasn't sure anymore these days. Supernatural beings indeed existed. I had heard about them from Arthur; he was crazy enough that sometimes he told me about them. The only Supes I had actually met were two Demons and Witches that used to work for Arthur — doing filthy work for him.

It was terrifying to know that vampires weren't the only supernatural beings that existed amongst humans. I had ignored all of them, not wanting to get involved with these creatures that only existed in stories, but could humans handle other supernatural beings like they had with vampires? I bet the answer was no.

I waited for him on the porch for two hours and he still wasn't home. My eyes never left his house; somehow I felt like getting inside Dylan's house and peering around, but I wasn't experienced in breaking and entering; just the thought of getting caught and thrown in jail wasn't very appealing.

As minutes ticked by, the air began to get icy; I got up from the chair and went to my room. I tossed my bra, changed into a black babydoll, and matching panties. Shoeless, I marched to the bathroom and brushed my teeth. I opened the window a few inches to let in the night air. I laid in bed and fell asleep waiting for Eric around two a.m.

Through drowsy sleep, I felt someone on the bed, hard chest against my back, and felt a hard cock against my ass, rubbing it. His hand was caressing my breast through the babydoll. At first, I thought it was a dream with Eric. My eyes fluttered open when I felt a tweak at my nipple. It was Eric; his fingertips were tugging at my nipple. He rolled me over, sitting himself between my legs. He lowered his head and kissed my neck, trailing kisses down to my shoulder, pulling the strap of the babydoll down my shoulder and freed my breast. His mouth traveled to my nipple, the tip of his tongue dancing around.

"Eric..." He licked my nipple again. I groaned. I wouldn't mind waking up like this every night. "Eric." He freed my other breast from the babydoll and started licking it. I tangled my hands in his hair and moaned as his tongue kept moving around my nipple.

"I said we weren't finished, Christa." He said, smacking his lips on mine hungrily, deadening my 'hmmm'. "Tonight you're all mine." His hand spread my legs; I felt his hard shaft against my thigh and I bit my lower lip. His fingers traced my inner thigh and stopped inches from my cunt.

I propped myself on my elbows and watched as his mouth moved down to my pussy, where I needed his touch. He pulled up the babydoll over my belly, revealing my black panties, a sinister smile spread over his lips. "Mmm. I love these," His palm rubbed through them. I bucked my hips, moaning his name. "I know you like these." His nose twitched, smelling my arousal, and he said a single word. "_Utsökt_."

Eric didn't stop rubbing until my panties were soaked from my juices. His digit pulled my panties aside. His thumb frolicked with my swollen clit; my heart was racing and for a second I forgot my name. I kept bucking my hips. I was so close. Eric dipped a finger inside my pussy, slipping in without trouble. I arched my back upward, my fingertips stroking my nipples. He added two fingers, moving his digits slowly; my walls tightened around them. I moaned.

"Oh… Oh, Eric." He made me come on his fingers. He didn't stop, though; his fingers moved faster and my toes curled, making me come again. "I need you inside me!"

I moaned when he lowered his mouth onto my clit, making me moan his name over and over. He sucked my swollen clit and I came again; my body shuddered and he didn't stop until I got lost, moaning his name. My legs convulsed as he continued sucking my clit and I came again. He pulled away from my clit; his eyes were on me, smiling. His mouth was sparkly from my juices. His hand cupped my breast and we kissed. I licked the moisture from his mouth and he growled; his eyes darkened with lust.

I reached to touch him, but he grabbed my wrists with his hand and held them over my head. "No touching," He hovered over me; he held himself up with his other arm. "Tonight you're all mine."

"Eric," I growled; I hated the thought of not touching him. "Eric—" He hushed my protest with another kiss.

Eric rolled me over onto my fours; I held myself up on my elbows. He knelt behind me, grabbing my rear for balance. My eyes were on him; he unzipped his jeans, freeing his cock. My heart raced, excited to feel him inside of me, making me come again and again. His cock slid across my wet pussy, over and over.

I growled. "I need you, Eric. Now."

A chuckle rumbled in his chest; the head of his member stopped at my entrance. Slightly, he thrust in and pulled back. "You want this? Huh? Tell me what you want." He breathed into my ear; I bit my lower lip.

"Yes." I answered fast. He spanked my rear, "Yes, yes." He spanked the other cheek and did it twice more.

"As you wish," He thrust in again and we moaned. His hands clenched onto my waist; he shut his eyes as he moved in and out in a steady movement. My walls tightened around his cock. "Ah— _du är så jävla hårt_!" He whispered and his fangs extended.

Eric's hand wove into my hair; he thrust in and out, in and out, making me moan his name over and over. My hand grabbed his arm as he sped up his movements. My hand traveled down to my clit and rubbed it. His hands grabbed my ass and he moved faster. I knew we would be coming soon; we moved faster, the headboard banging into the wall and we came.

Eric rolled over; I stared at his fangs, leaned down, and kissed him. His hands traveled to my ass and cupped it, moving me. I kissed his jaw and neck, my hands gripped onto his shoulder. He cupped one of my breasts and he brought it to his mouth; I moaned and he moved to the other breast. His hands seized my waist and he moved me faster.

"Harder, oh," He grabbed my rear and thrust deeper and faster. My nails dug into his shoulders and we came again. His hand stroked my neck and we kissed.

I was spent. My head was using Eric's forearm as a pillow; his other arm was wrapped around my waist. Sleepiness was around the corner. I so wanted to give him something back, pleasure him, but I was tired and feeling sleepy. He brushed the hair from my eye, "Go back to sleep."

I shook my head, "I'm okay;" my eyes were shut.

"It's late; sleep." Through shut eyes, I glared at him and nodded.

The clock read one p.m. The sheet was tangled around my body and my body was a little sore from the night before. I rolled over to where Eric had stayed last night. His scent lingered on the pillow; I buried my nose and took a long breath. A smile spread over my lips as I remembered Eric. A note from Eric was on the nightstand, written in a neat handwriting. I bolted upright, securing the sheet around my body and read the note.

_Dawn was approaching. We need to talk; come to Fangtasia at ten._

_E_

Puzzled, I crumbled the note, tossed it to the nightstand, and swung my legs over the bed. I walked naked to the bathroom to take a shower. As I sponged myself, I thought of Eric and imagined that he was in the shower with me, his hard chest on my back. His hands were stroking my nipples and clit like he had last night. I instantly got wet just thinking of Eric. My eyes winged open. _Fuck, Christa, you better calm down. _

I changed into something light for the day, short shorts, a tank top, and my usual black vans and the natural hair and makeup. The phone rang; I stared at the mirror, sighing, and returned to the room. It was Anna. I bit my lip and answered.

"Hey," I greeted, walking back to the bathroom. "What's up?"

"_Hey, are you comin' to help at the store today?"_ She asked.

I picked up the basket and tucked it under my arm. My eyebrow winch up, "Perhaps later. I have a few things to settle with Dylan and I'm going to the shelter later."

She only caught Dylan's name. _"What are you going to ask him? Are you interested in him? Sofia, Perkins is going on a date." _She shouted; I flinched and blasphemed.

"_What?!"_ Sofia bawled back. _"Are you serious? He's weird, Man; he's just weird."_

My mouth moved to answer back, but I shut it. "What?! Oh my God, no. There are a few questions I need ask him, that's all, Anna; don't get any crazy ideas." I cleared before she started asking more questions. On my way to the laundry room, I stopped at the window and peer over at Dylan's. His car still wasn't there. "I may need to track him down."

"What?"

"Nothing." I shook my head and strolled back to the laundry room.

"_Hey, you never know. You know that right? Things can happen, Dude. It happens all the time for no reason." _

I rolled my eyes, my head bouncing slightly to the sides. "Don't go Shakespearean on me, got it? 'Cause those things always suck." I loaded the washer, tossing the cloth in.

"_Yeah 'cause you know they're right, Perkins." _She chuckled. "_Speaking of boys, we are going clubbing tonight and you're coming."_

"We?" She groaned; I detained back a cackle. "Don't you think we are a little old to go clubbing?" I shut the door of the washer, walked to the kitchen, and grabbed an apple. I dropped into the chair, playing with the apple.

"_We aren't that old; I had seen guys thirty and up in the clubs. And it's an easy way to get laid without strings attached." _

I pursed my lips, "They're perverts looking for young girls."

"Well, whatever, get ready tonight. We're going to have fun and meet hot boys!" She said motivated. "I'll pick you up at eleven— Damn it, Sofia, my skirt just got stuck on the rack!" Her voice was muffled; for God sake's, I hope she didn't have the phone on her breast. "Help?! Sofia!"

I bit my apple with a smile, swallowing in order to crack up as Anna continued struggling. "Are you okay in there?"

"Shut up; see you tonight."

"Bye." I hung up and got down to business.

Again, Dylan wasn't home. _What is wrong with him? What's the family business?_ Again, illegal things spun in my head. I penned a quick note with my number and slipped the note under the door. I walked to the car and got in.

The kids were playing when I got to the shelter. Melissa was at the door, talking with a man. He wasn't a father from the shelter. He was odd, though; his eyes were glued on me. She waved as soon as she saw me and stepped aside to let me in. "Oh, I'm glad you came today."

I smiled. "Me too, I have missed the kids."

"I'm sure they have, too." She palmed my shoulder and returned her attention to the man.

Halfway down the hallway to the rooms where the kids play, Cassie yelled behind me. "Christa!"

I spun around and picked her up in my arms and swirled; she giggled. "Hey, Monkey!"

Her eyes searched around. "Where's Midnight?"

We stared at each other for two seconds. My mind spun with different ideas to tell her. "He's at home." I finally said.

"Oooh." Her hand looped through my hair. "I like your hair. Have I told you that?"

"Yes, you have." I lowered her to the ground; she squinted her eyes. "What?"

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah." My tone was hesitating. "Why— why do you ask?" She shrugged, biting her lip with a funny look. "What's all that, Cassie?"

"You're funny."

I cracked up with laughter, shaking my head. "Okay, let's go."

We walked onto the patio where all the kids were playing different games. Cassie pulled my arm and we ran to a group of kids that were playing ball and started playing. "What team are we on?" I asked a red-head kid; he pouted.

"On our team— hey, Fool, are you a girl or what?" He yelled to a kid who had the ball across the yard and didn't hit it. "You're playing like one! Hit the ball!"

From the corner of my eyes, I gazed at Cassie. She had her hand on her hip, "Hey, Justin, don't be a bully, got it?" _Justin, Justin. _Then I realized that he was the kid across from the house that always pulled pranks on the kids around here and on the parents. Also, Cassie had the biggest crush on this kid.

"Cassie, go and watch Dora; that's what you do, isn't it?" He had the biggest smirk. Cassie's eyes were sparkling; she was close to tears. His smirk fell, regret crossed his face. "Cassie…"

"No, Justin. Come on, Christa, let's go with Melissa." Her voice was small; she avoided his eyes. She grabbed my hand and pulled my arm; she hurried out of the yard.

"Hey, hey, Monkey," I stopped her when we were on the steps that lead to the play room. She faced me, but put on the brightest smile. I dropped onto the second step and she did the same. "Don't listen to him. Okay?"

She nodded. "I know."

"And don't take it to heart either, do you hear me?" She nodded once. "He's just a kid that thinks that making fun of everyone will make him look cool."

"You think?" She angled her head to look at me. I nodded once. _Yes_. "How do you know?"

"Hey, I was a kid once, too, and I know how to read people." I laughed. Cassie lifted her eyebrow. "Okay, never mind the last part."

"There you are," John said behind us. We peeked over our shoulders; Cassie smiled for real this time and got up to hug her dad. "Christa, how are you?" John asked, scooping up Cassie in his arms and smooching her head. "I miss you, Sugar."

Standing up, I said, "I'm doing great, John."

"I did, too, Dad," Cassie wrapped her arm around his neck. "How was work?" We walked down the hallway to the diner room.

We sat down at a table, Cassie in her Dad's lap. My eyes moved to Cassie. John smiled and started telling her all about his day at work. She asked questions and he answered. Seeing them together, I wondered about my father; what was his job? How did he look like? Why did he abandon us?

John was smiling at something — or perhaps at me. "Uh? Did you ask something?"

"Yes. I did. I— I…" Cassie pulled his sleeve. "We were planning on going to see a movie this weekend; do you want to come?"

"I—uh…" I bit my bottom lip. Cassie stared at me. My eyes skipped to Cassie and John, I was thinking, no, say no. In its place I said. "Sure."

"Great. It's a date…" John eyes bugged out. "I-I-I didn't mean like that." He was stuttering.

_Oh, God, what did I get myself into? _I thought. My eyes were on Cassie. I offered a slight smiled and nodded once again. Things were awkward afterwards, between John and I.

Anna was closing the doors when I got to the store. I checked my wrist watch; she was closing early. It was barely sundown. I stuck my shoe between the door and the doorjamb. "Hey."

"What are you doing here, Perkins?" She opened the door wide to let me in. "And why aren't you changed?"

I scowled, looking down at my clothes. "I came to help you with the store." I said, gesturing around the store. "Where's everyone?"

She crisscrossed her arms over her chest. "Tonight, we're clubbing."

"Oooh," that was the only thing I could said. _Shit._

"You forgot, didn't you?"

"What? No." I tried to save my ass from Anna's piercing eyes. "Okay, okay, I forgot, but I'll change quickly into something." I looked at her clothes. She was wearing a dark blue dress and black heels. "Are you serious? It's kind of cold outside." I had wore Marcus's coat. I hadn't had the chance to give it back to him.

"I'm wearing this to the club."

"Oh, fair point." She tossed me a rag, I caught it. "What I'm supposed to do with this? Wear it in my head?"

"Ha-ha. Wipe the counters. I need to grab a box from the car to have it ready for tomorrow." She said and spun around, heading to the back room.

"Do you need help?" I asked her. She shook her head. "Alright." I spun around and wiped the stand. There were two boxes on the counter. I tossed aside the rag and peered into the first box that was open. It had oriental figurines. I grabbed a standing Kwan Yin; the others were a pair of Foo Dog, Geisha, and Thai Buddha. The door unbolted behind me. "They are nice statues," I said, putting Yin back onto the counter and spun around when Anna didn't answer.

My heart stopped. Anna's face was blank, her eyes were engrossed on me, but she wasn't alone. A pale, tall man stood beside her. His hand was wrapped around her forearm. He was wearing a buttoned dark coat, dress shoes, and his hair was dark brown. I didn't need to let down my shield to know that he was a vampire.

"Don't do anything stupid," He said. At human's pace he moved behind Anna and brushed her hair aside, exposing her neck. "Or she's going to pay the consequences."

For a second, my eyes stirred to Anna, "Don't hurt her." I said. My full attention was back to the vampire. I let down my shield and listened to his thoughts, but I couldn't hear anything. I could see a black wall; he was blocking me. There was only one person who knew how to block me out — Arthur. My mind spun with the many vampires I had met with Arthur, but I had never seen his face before.

"Didn't hear anything, eh?" He tipped Anna's head back and locked their eyes. "Be a good girl—"

"Stop it," I choked out. His head rolled to me. I avoided his eyes and focused on Anna for a minute, but her focus was on the vampire. "Don't glamour her, please."

He chuckled. "You don't have a say here, Beth." Yes, he definitely knew who I was.

I was playing with fire here. I was practically blind, not knowing his next move. "What do you want?"

"Take a guess, Beth." His hand angled Anna's neck further; his thumb caressed it. "You're a smart girl."

My eyes skim across the room, looking for any weapon that I could use against him. Anything pointy was out of my reach. "I don't know. Just tell me."

"Hmm. I think you know him. You have met him, I believe." He sniffed into Anna's neck. "She doesn't smell like you." _Met him? It could be any vampire that I had met. _

"Tell me a name." I took a step back and leaned back onto the counter while his eyes were on Anna's neck.

He smirked, humorless, "You smell great." He said lustily. "I'm going to let go of your friend, but you'll walk out of here silently. Do you understand?"

My hand reached blindly for Yin. I clenched it in my hand and nodded_. Come on, come on, and make a move now. _I thought it wasn't going to work, but it work. Who knew that figurines would come in handy to defend myself from a vampire? When he was closer I aimed for his stomach. Blood colored my hand; I let go and he bent over, clenching Yin. He let out a pained groan, then chuckled.

I sprinted to Anna. "Come on. We need to go." I seized her arm and dragged her to the exit door. Down the hallway, there was a wooden water bucket with wooden hockey sticks. I leaned Anna against the wall and speedily grabbed a hockey stick and broke it over my knee. The stake that resulted, I hid inside my coat.

"What are you doing?" Anna asked me. I faced her.

I squeezed her shoulder. "Don't freak out, but there's a vampire inside the store."

"A-a-a v-vampire?" She watched over her shoulder; seeing nothing, she faced me. "Are you joking?"

"No. Come on."

We didn't make it that far. With the inhuman speed they possessed, he blocked the door. He was fully healed now. Anna yelped, clenching my arm. He had Yin in his hand, he shook his head. "That was clearly stupid and I said that she was going to pay the consequences." He moved in an unclear move and pushed me aside.

He angled Anna's head to the side; her eyes bugged out of fear. She was pleading me to help her. Her thoughts were clear and loud. "Hey, Asshole, you forget something?" That got his attention; he pushed Anna away. I snatched the stake from my coat and staked him in his chest. His eyes went wide and he stumbled back to the wall; his hand tightened around the stake. He exploded into a pool of blood and goo.

"Are you okay?" I asked Anna, hugging her. She nodded.

"What happened here?" Anna and I jumped. Eric was down the hallway. His eyes shifted to the remains of the vampire on the floor. "What happened?"

I dropped the bloody stake to the floor._ Oh, boy. _


	12. Dallas and The Demon

**CHAPTER 12: DALLAS AND THE DEMON  
**

Anna hadn't said anything for a few minutes, but her thoughts were loud and clear; she was still replaying what happened detail by detail. I cringed again when I saw myself kill the vampire. Slowly, I untangled our hands, trying not to spook her. Anna said nothing; she gazed at Eric, got up from the chair, and cleared her throat. "I'll give you time alone…" She did an awkward turn and said over her shoulder, "I'm going to the office."

I ran my hands through my hair and sighed, spinning around. I waited for Eric to speak, but he stared at me with a hard gaze. It was hard to read him; it always was. I cleared my throat uneasily. My body tingled, looking at his eyes, and I got the butterflies I would get when I used to look at boys in high school. We would have stayed like that, staring at each other, but I blurted out. "What now? Aren't you going to punish what I did?"

He surprised me with what he said, "No." He paused, his voice turning my body to heat with his next words. "But here's an important question: do you want me to punish _you_?" His voice turned darker and sexy; his eyebrow was up in a sexy way. His lips curled into a smirk.

Boy, did the room feel hot already. Images spun in my head of what happened last night between us. That was hot sex I won't forget for a quite a while. "Eric, I'm serious."

"I'm serious too."

"About what?"

"About punishing you." He was suddenly in front of me, his arms wrapped around my waist. His hand skidded down my back to my rear. Okay, that was a great feeling but Anna would walk in on us and demanded answers.

But his arms felt great; I felt secure and safe like the many times he had saved my life. I wanted nothing more than to stay there in his arms, staring in his deep blue eyes that reminded me of the sea. My eyes bounced to his lips. There was an urge to kiss him. My thoughts stopped short, this wasn't my heart talking; it was his blood. I wiggled free of his arms. I put distance between us, crossing my arms over my chest. He looked puzzled, but his face sobered up again.

I fixed Marcus's jacket firmly around my body. I leaned my hip on the counter and stared at him. "I'm serious; I just killed a vampire." I ran a hand over my face, roughly. "His maker felt him, Eric."

"Well, that is trouble we are talking about."

"No kidding."

"Did he say what his name was?"

_Was he serious? _"Yeah, sure. I took the time to get to know him, Eric." I scoffed sarcastically. "We had a tea party before you got here and we talked about boys."

His jaw clenched. "Tell me what he said." His voice was sharp.

"He was just talking nonsense I couldn't get." My mind spun around with his words. _I think you know him. You have met him. _"But he did say I already had met him—whoever commanded him here."

"He did say names?" I shook my head, Eric sighed. "Did you hear anything in his mind?"

"No." I paused; my skin crawled. "He was blocking me."

"Blocking you." He sound confused.

I sighed and walked to the nearest chair. I dropped onto the chair and looked down at the floor. "Yes, the only one who knew how to block me was Arthur."

"So this vampire knew Arthur?"

I shrugged. "I don't know. I never meet him while I was with Arthur."

He got quiet for a few minutes. I studied his profile, but again it was hard to read his features. Why was it so difficult to read him? While with other people, I could know what they were thinking, but with him it was always different.

"What is it?" I asked him, fearful of hearing his answer.

"I've got to investigate all these people."

I jumped to my feet. "Are you out your mind? These people are dangerous. They have Supes on their side."

His lips curled into a half smiled. "I have dealt with worse, Christa." His voice then turned sharper. "Don't worry about me."

His eyes looked beyond my shoulder. I peered behind me, but there was nothing there. Before I could think again, Eric had closed the space between us and he kissed me. My hand moved to his neck and I deepened our kiss. One of his hands was at my waist, pulling me closer, while the other hand was at the back of my neck. I couldn't help, but moan against his mouth. My body exploded in heat and desire to feel him again.

Eric pulled back, looking at my eyes. "I better start with all this investigation." He was gone before I could answer him back.

I stood there in the darkness of the room. My fingertips moved to my lips; I could still feel the heat in my body from the kiss. I tried to ignore the small hole I felt in my chest and walked to Anna's office.

I found her seated at her chair. She looked up when she felt me standing on the doorway. "Hey," There was blood on her dress and her hands, "The mess is already cleaned. I need to get out of here."

"Okay." I said, avoiding her eyes.

I stayed at Anna's apartment. It was a small apartment with the facilities for one person. I stayed in the couch. Anna returned with a blanket and oversized t-shirt; I grabbed it. "Hey…You okay?" She had being utterly quiet during the ride to her apartment.

"Yeah. I just need sleep." Anna bit her lower lip and sat beside me on the sofa. "Sofia called and I didn't know what to tell her." _Oh. _"Did Eric say something about not telling anyone about what happened tonight?" She played with her hair, avoiding my eyes.

My eyes were stable on her. Maybe she felt my eyes on her because she looked sideways and shot me a dirty look. I shook my head and looked out the window to the shining stars. "Whatever you choose is fine."

"I don't know… it's still bizarre even to me."

"Really, it doesn't matter what you choose; no body decides for you." I said, braiding my hair into a side braided.

"What happened?" Her voice was a whisper, not wanting anyone to hear her.

My head twirled to look at her. I didn't know what to say to her. Instead I said, "What do you remember?"

"I don't remember anything at all… I just remembered seeing you in the hall with the stake and killing the vampire" — her eyes bugged out, she soared to her feet alarmed — "Fuck, I was glamoured wasn't I?"

This time it was my time to evade her eyes. Her hands wrapped around my forearms; her nails dug into my forearms rather painfully; I hissed and snapped her hands away. "Yes." Anna didn't say anything. "Anna…"

"That's so fucking sick!" She hissed, her hands were clenched at her sides. It was rarely to see her mad. "That bastard could have glamoured me to do something more atrocious than just be his shield."

"Anna…" I didn't know what else to say to her, "Go rest. You need it."

"Yeah." She said, standing up. "If you need anything, just help yourself."

"Yes." She nodded, walking down the narrow hallway to her room. She stopped on the doorway and turned around.

"Thanks."

I raised my eyebrow. "For what?"

"For killing that vampire before he ate me."

I smiled rather proudly. "Don't mention it." I shifted on the sofa to peer over my shoulder.

She rested her shoulder onto the doorframe. "You know, you looked badass back there."

"Thanks?"

A huge grin spread over her lips. "Don't flatter yourself, Perkins." I chuckled, shaking my head. "Good night."

"Good night." I mumbled. She spun around and shut the door. I sighed and got up. I changed into the oversized t-shirt and then brushed my teeth with an extra toothbrush. I tiptoed across the living room, laid on the sofa, and turned off the light.

My eyes were glued on the ceiling. My mind was spinning with memories of my past. Surely, I had never meet the vampire that I had killed. There were questions in my mind of why all of this was happening all of the sudden when I had lived my life normally for ten years and now they were back.

I swung my legs over and sat on the couch, looking out the window. There was only one person that perhaps had answers to all my questions. I hoped I could find all these answers before Anna or Sofia got hurt because of me. With that in mind I laid back down and fell asleep around three in the morning.

I woke up to the smell of breakfast cooking. The iPhone chimed, startling me. It was a message from a number I didn't recognize. I hesitated at first but widely surprised to hear it was a message from Dylan. I had thought he was gone or something.

I returned his call, walking to the balcony and shutting the door behind me. He answered on the fourth ring. "Dylan Chandler."

"Hey…um…er… it's me, Christa Perkins." I breathe in and cleared my throat. "I see you got my note."

"Yeah, it was hard not to miss it." He chuckled softly; I smiled even though he couldn't see me.

"Well, I just needed to thank you for helping out Sofia and Anna the other night. You know?"

"Yeah, don't worry about it. They were freaking out, so, I did what anyone would do."

We were both quiet for a moment, I pursed my lips. For the events of last night, I had forgotten why I had left the note in the first place. With all this going on, I still need to investigate Dylan; that was my first plan. Then I could go and explore the other missing part of this maze that had become my life. "Do you have time for lunch?"

"Today?" He asked doubtful.

"Yes." _That was too fast. _I grunted softly and shut my eyes. "If you have time; don't worry, it's on me." There was a tap behind me. I spun around and Anna was behind the door.

"Sure, is one okay? I have a few things to do."

"Okay. You know where Frank's Diner is, right?"

"Yeah. I have seen it."

"Alright then, I'll see you there."

"Bye." I hung up and opened the door.

"Who was that?" Anna asked; I followed her to the kitchen.

"Dylan."

She cocked her head to the side, "What did he need?"

"Nothing." I shrugged and dug into the breakfast. She dropped the topic.

"Are you coming to the store today?" Anna asked.

I nodded. "Yes." We both silenced after that short conversation. While Anna went to shower, I did the dishes and changed into my clothes from yesterday.

While I waited for Anna, I combed my hair with my fingers. On top of the table, there was figurine shape of a woman. I had never seen them in the store or anywhere else. It was a woman standing with her hands raised in the air; her head was upwards, looking at circle above her head with symbols. I raised my eyebrow and grabbed the figurine for a better inspection. It was nothing I had seen before, but, then again, I wasn't an expert in these things like Anna or Sofia. Exhaling, I stood up and walked down the hallway to her room. I knocked just once.

"What it is, Perkins?" Anna asked, poking her head through the door.

"I need to go; I'll see you later at the store."

She frowned. "Where are you going?"

My crazy plans were not to share with anyone. "I need to arrange some…er… things."

"Okay. You aren't going to do something thoughtless are you?"

_Yes._ I chuckled lightly. "I thought Sofia was the 'I'm all about safety' one."

"She is, but with what happened last night, I'll be following her steps sooner than I'd like."

"Alright, see you later." I nodded.

There was a long list of things I needed to buy. The first stop was at Tony's Stake: the store of all things anti-vampire. I took anything I found; where I was going wasn't safe for me to set foot. Stakes I didn't buy; I could easily made stakes from any wood, but I doubted I was going to kill anyone. That I hope.

Before heading to meet Dylan, I went home. It was unclear how long I was going to be gone so, I packed a few pairs of jeans, tank tops, my toothbrush, and other necessities. In the other bag were the things that were going to keep me safe. After I double checked that house was locked, I headed to my meeting with Dylan.

I was early and chose a table near the back of the diner. It was a little private, something I was looking for. While I waited, I ordered lemonade and waited for Dylan to arrive. How was I going to ask what I needed to know without looking suspicious about it? _Well, you're going to figure it out when he's arrives_.

I checked the clock again; he was two minutes late. I played with the straw, watching the ice inside the glass. Perhaps what I was doing was going to be called 'crazy', 'reckless', or even, 'foolish' but I was in need of answers. Clearly, as much I wished, Eric couldn't do that. I needed all the daylight to get there so Eric couldn't get involved in my plans.

Someone chuckled lightly. My head snapped and I forced a smirk on my lips. Like the first night I met him, Dylan was wearing solid, dark colors. He was wearing a dark blue polo and dark jeans, but he still looked handsome.

"Hey," I said, standing up, "Thanks for coming." He smirked, he round the table and pulled the chair. "Thank you."

"So…" He rounded the table and sat at his chair, "how are you?"

"I'm good. You?"

"Great." The waiter came back to our table.

"Do you want anything mister? Miss?"

"Water is okay." Dylan answered. He nodded and turned his head to look at me. I shook my head. "Alright, if you need anything, call me back."

"So…" I cleared my throat and sipped the lemonade. "Thanks for helping Anna and Sofia the other night when they thought I disappeared." I pushed away hair from my face with my hand. Dylan nodded. I waited for him to answer, but his mind was silent, he wasn't thinking about what I was looking for.

"Like I said on the phone, they were freaking out. Next time…" The waiter came back with his water, "Thank you. Next time, tell them where you are going."

"Yes, I will." He was thinking about work; there was nothing I was looking for. "They made me promise, too."

"They care about you. People get worried for the people they love."

"Yes. They do." He opened his mouth to say something, but his phone rang.

"Sorry."

"That's okay." I said, tucking a lock behind my ear.

He fished his phone from his pocket, check the caller I.D. to see who was calling him. "I need to take this." He said, standing up.

"Okay." He walked a few feet away from me. His thoughts weren't telling me anything about the conversation, but he was agitated and mad. He ran his hand through his hair and shut the phone.

"Sorry about that." Dylan said. He sat again and sipped the water for the first time. "I need to go; there's a problem at work."

"That's okay. I need to go somewhere too." He raised his eyebrow; I shrugged. "Don't worry Anna knows." Lie number two. "I made sure she was okay with it."

"Well, in that case, see you later, Christa."

I sat in the car for a good five minutes with my phone in my hand. Telling Anna where I was going wasn't a good idea in case Eric went to her and asked her once he knew I was gone. I shoved the phone into my jacket and pulled away from the parking lot and drove to Dallas, where my past and nightmares were.

Dusk was falling when I arrived in Dallas. The place where I was going was stuck in my brain. I drove through the street like I hadn't been gone for almost ten years. The house hadn't changed, but I could have recognized it. I parked the car and got out. There were two people inside the house, female and boy.

I crossed the street and rang the doorbell of the house. I peered over my shoulder, but I couldn't see anyone or anything that would tell I was followed here. The door swung open. The memory was stuck in my brain. She was ten years old when I first had seen her, her hair was up in ponytail, but that face was so familiar that I'd remember her if I had seen her on the street. I still wasn't sure if Clarissa's Granny was alive to help me again; she never told me if her granddaughter was a witch. Granny had said, "I care about you, but I don't want my family in danger if they knew about us." I'd just nodded. She spoke before I could utter a word.

"Who are you?" She whispered, "What are you doing here?"

"Is your Granny home?" I asked her, perplexed. Her mind was spinning with memories of her Granny, and she recalled an event when I had met her while I stayed with her Granny. She was so little; she didn't know if I was the girl from her memory.

"Come in, please," She stepped aside. I peered behind me, doubtful, but then walked inside her foyer. I followed her to the living room. A kid around six was kneeling in front of the coffee table, drawing. "Monkey, go to your room and play, " He got up and ran to his room down the hallway. "Do you want anything to drink?"

"No. Thank you," I stared at her for a few seconds; she sort of had her Granny's features. I avoided her eyes and asked her."Is your Granny here? I need to talk to her," I said, after the kid had shut the door.

"How do you know my Granny?" She inquired, sharply.

"It's a long story… " I tried to choose my words wisely. "She helped me a few years ago. But I knew she was special."

"Well," She got up snappishly from her seat, "Get out of my house; I don't know what you're talking about."

"Please hear me out," I begged, standing up, "Please. I need help."

"She can't help you; she's dead."

"Your Granny... I'm sorry, I didn't know." I sighed, "I didn't know her as much as I wish I had, but she helped me ten years ago… when I was running from something… she was the only one who helped. I'm really sorry."

"I can't help you."

"I know. But can you please tell me if there's someone who can?" I knew it was selfish to ask her something like this when she'd just told me her Granny was dead. "Please."

"I'm nothing like Nana…" She looked beaten about that. "But I might know someone who can help you."

"Okay. You tell directions and I go."

"Stay here for the night and I'll call her to come down here."

"No. I'll stay in a hotel… I don't want anyone to get hurt."

"Stay here," She insisted. "This house is big enough for three people. And it's the safest place for you."

I nodded, "Okay. Tomorrow, I'll be back at my place."

She nodded, "Okay. Let me call her then," She said and got up from the sofa. The iPhone rang in my pocket. I sighed and fished the phone from the pocket. Anna's name flashed in the screen. I didn't answer. I ignored the call; finally, I was going to know who was behind all these attempts to kidnap me.

Finally was shorted lived. There was a loud thump in the front door. The door swung open; I rose to my feet, alerted. Man, I had brought danger to Clarissa and her kid. This time, it was a woman; she was around her thirties. Her hair was long and dark. She was wearing dark jeans, red leather jacket, driving gloves and combat boots. Her eyes turned black.

"You're a demon," I whispered. She raised her hand and I was pinned against the wall. It was useless to fight it. "Son of a bitch."

She smiled, "I'm glad you know about us." There was movement from my right; Clarissa walked past me with her kid in her arms.

"Clarissa…"

"I'm sorry; it was you or my kid." She said, not looking at me in the eyes.

I nodded, "I understand."

"Come on, this is so depressing." She looked over to Clarita, "Go, before I changed my mind and I take him."

"What are you going to do with her?" She asked.

"That's none of your business. Go."

That was the last thing I saw, was Clarissa walking away with worried eyes and her her kid on her arms. And that black-eyed bitch knocked me out.

* * *

I know, I know, I'm very alive! You might be confused with this chapter but in the next chapter I explained why and how Christa was with Granny the witch, there are a lot flashbacks on the upcoming chapter.

So, yeah, thanks for following, reading and reviewing! And like you can see updating will change I'll update when I get the chapter back. I'll update once a week, maybe, let's see how college and work let's me work on Dark Lover.

Don't forget to review and let me know your thoughts about what you think of the story so far! I'd love to know what you think.

P.S. Happy late (super late) holidays!

Xo

Vanessa


	13. Little Things

**CHAPTER 13: LITTLE THINGS**

"_How do you feel?" Granny asked from the kitchen. I muted the TV and peered over my shoulder. Her eyes were soft and motherly. Her granddaughter was at the table, coloring in her book. _

_She didn't show her soft side; sometimes it was easy to forget that she was a powerful witch. But the thing on the wall and the necklace I was wearing was a reminder that she wasn't a normal human being. _

_My fingers traced the necklace around my neck. This necklace was full of powerful magic that was keeping me safe from vampires. I shrugged, "I'm okay." _

_She smiled, looking down at her cuisine, "Well, sometimes it's hard to tell, coming from you."_

_Snickering, I shook my head, "I was always told I was hard to read…" I trailed off. _

_She beamed. "Dinner is ready." _

My eyes fluttered open; a quilt sheet was tangled around my body. My chest was rising and falling; it was the first time that I had dreamt of Granny. It was inexplicable that I still had that memory buried. I balanced my breathing and focused my eyes on the ceiling, replaying the dream over and over like an old movie. I swung my legs over the bed and sat with my back flat against the wall. Without thought, my hand clasped the necklace.

I shut my eyes and remembered Granny openly. Only months were spent with Granny, but she became like a mother to me, protective and caring. After Alexander had killed Arthur with the help of Granny, she took me with her because of Alexander orders and I never heard from him again. Sighing, I opened my eyes. My head was throbbing. I didn't know if it was from whatever the black-eyed bitch did to me or from sleeping for hours.

There were about three more small size cells in the room with twin beds and quilt sheets; they were empty, but I could see that they had been used. Across the room was a table with tools; some of them were bloody, a quiver ran down my spine at the thought of whom they had used them on or what were used for.

There were no windows anywhere; there was only a door next to the last cell. It was heavy and rusty. It looked like it required a lot of strength. I couldn't tell if it was night or daylight; I cursed under my breath. I was screwed. Gripping the bars in my hands, I hunted for thoughts. There were five different thoughts, two were out on the porch and it was daylight and another three were in the kitchen playing poker.

I heaved a sigh and descended onto the bed, cuddling my knees to my chest. My eyes were shut, trying to control the pain that was in my chest. Granny, she was gone, just like my Mom. For years, I never talked about Mom with Sofia or Anna; it was just a reminder of how alone I was, that Mom and Granny were just memories and nothing else.

"_This truly works?" I murmured my question to Granny. She had a book in her hands; it had a foreign title. She'd have told me it was a spell book. I held my hand out; the necklace pooled in my palm. _

_Granny lowered the book onto the table with a sigh, "Yes." She bit her lower lip and thought a better answer. "When I'm doing a spell, I required a lot concentration and energy from my ancestors." _

_I nodded, taking in all the information, "So your deceased family helps you to do spells?" Granny nodded, "Awesome." _

_She took the necklace; I turned around and she put it back in the place where it had been for three months, "Thank you."_

"_What are your plans now that you're free?" She questioned. _

_My body tensed at her question. Deliberately, I spun around to face her. She always knew how to make me uncomfortable; my eyes glued to the floor, "I don't know. Have you heard from Alexander?" My voice lowered. _

"_No," She whispered. "But he told me, that you have family? Have you thought of going back to them?" She asked worry. Sometimes that kind of concern made her let me see her soft side. _

_There was happiness in my chest, just at the thought of seeing Mom again; her arms around me, telling me that everything was okay now, "I don't know. I don't want her in danger."_

"_Who?" She grasped for my hand and squeezed it sympathetically, "You'll be safe. You've nothing to worry about," _

"_Will it be safe to go back?" _

"_Yes. You don't have to fear anymore; Arthur is gone for good. He can't hurt you anymore."_

There was a thud on the door. It swung open. There she was. The black-eyed bitch; she had a brown bag in her hand. I didn't know what kind of things a demon could do and, really, I didn't want to find out. So, I didn't move. I stood there looking at her with the best death glare that I could muster for that black-eyed bitch. She didn't say anything, either.

"Food," She offered me the bag through the gap of the bars. "Not hungry? I thought humans ate these things. It's a burger, veggie."

"I'm not a vegetarian," I cooed leaning my shoulder on the wall. She thought I was funny. Still, my mouth watered, a veggie burger sounded good and I'd have eaten it without a second thought, but what if she had poisoned it? I really didn't want to test that idea. "Why I'm here?"

She cackled; her body shook, "A shame." She dropped the bag onto the floor. She dragged a chair over and sat near the cell, "You know why you are here."

"No. I don't know what the hell I'm here for. Care to fill me in?"

Her smile extend, "So… Christa; it's you he wants," Her eyes studied me to head to toe. "I don't know what he sees in you."

"You have the wrong person!"

"Oh, humans sometimes can be… idiots, but you aren't. You know what I'm talking about," She said, sure of herself. Her thoughts were hard to absorb. There was only one name that caught my attention though.

Novak.

It was a shocked to hear that name again; my heart started pounding in my chest. For a brief second I thought my heart was going to burst through my chest. I got dizzy for a second_. No, no. It was him._ He was behind all this. It was him.

_He's back, he's back, he's back… _those were the only coherent thoughts that my mind could process. "He's alive," I slurred, the black-eyed bitch lifted her eyebrow with satisfaction.

_Waiting for Arthur's word, I strolled down the hallway. My hands were sweaty and cold. Their voices were low, but their thoughts were loud. Why did I always have to find a traitor and get in the middle of the fight? _

_Novak's voice raised and the door flung open. I stopped in my tracks and focused my eyes on his fury face. He was one of the few vampires that I was scared of. He just had the look of an ex-convict, scary, and he had a scar from his left eye down to his cheek. He never liked me; he never liked that Arthur had a human and how he believed what I said to him about his turncoats. _

"_You!" Novak shouted; in a blur, he had pinned me against the wall. My hands clenched his wrist, trying to loosen it. "You tell him lies! All lies! You're dead!" He shouted. _

"_Let… me … go…" My throat hurt as I whispered the words. His fangs extended. His face burned in my mind, the hatred, wrath, and I knew he'd have killed me on the spot if it wasn't for Arthur. _

_Arthur had pinned Novak to the floor. Bodyguards thrust through the door, silvering Novak on the spot. My hand was on my throat, breathing heavily. The look he gave me shivered me to my core._

My face was sober, but my mind was spun around with all the things that had happened lately. His wrath and hatred for me it was still alive. The black-eyed bitch was working for him. She was now senselessly interested in me.

"That mind of yours started working again?" She taunted standing up. "You remember him, don't you?"

I clenched my jaw, "Shut up."

She crooned, "What'll Eric do?" My heart stopped. Was he even aware that I was gone? That I was missing? Was he even looking for me? Perhaps he wasn't; I wasn't nothing to him. At that thought, my chest hurt like it never had before.

_Don't give in, don't give in. _As long as I kept Eric and Pam out of this, I didn't need to worry about them. "Eric?"

"Don't be silly; he has been watching you," At her words my body quivered. "He has Eric right now, punishing him. He's a screamer." She had a huge smirk that I wanted to wipe of her face.

I knew that was just lies. Eric was much older than Novak. "I don't know what you're talking about."

She left after that. All my emotions and memories were put back into my iron box that I had for years now. I liked just to pretend that my past with Arthur never happened, but now, with Novak back, it wasn't easy to keep that iron box closed. Memories and emotions were high, driving me to an emotional wreck that was just waiting to explode at any moment.

Another day rolled on. The room was cool; my body was shaking. The quilt had drops of blood on it, something that stopped me from using it around my body. That also proved me that Eric didn't care that I was gone. Actually, I didn't like what my chest was doing. It was just paining at the thought of not seeing him again or feeling him. It was just the smallest thing that made me miss him. I wasn't sure if it was love or his blood that made me have these thoughts, but I figured it was the latter option. Perhaps, I didn't mean anything to him and that hurt.

The black-eyed bitch came to the room when dusk was falling. She once again had a brown bag in her hand. Yesterday, I ate the burger hours after she was gone. It had gone cold, but I still ate it. My knees were up to my chest to warm my body.

She skewed her head, "Food," She dropped the bag onto the ground. Like yesterday she sat in the chair. She pulled out her phone and started playing a game.

I studied her. She was wearing dark solid colors, combat boots, and driving gloves. She must have felt me watching her, she lifted her eyes and she smiled cockily. "Not offering or anything, but the last person who looked at me like that got laid."

I snorted, "Yeah, that sounds like heaven."

"You own a sassy mouth. Let's see if you can pull that off with my boss," She bustled up, that smirk not wiping off her lips.

I didn't let it get to me or show the fear that Novak made me have, "I'm sure I will."

There was a loud flare-up upstairs. The black-eyed bitch peered up. I explored thoughts, they were under attack. She glared at me, _if looks could kill_; I didn't know who was behind it. Her hand snatched a knife from her back; I held my breath. What surprised me was what she did next; she dropped the blade onto the surface. She spun around and rushed to help her demons comrades.

I bolted up to my feet, "Hey!" I shouted. "You can't leave me here!" She didn't gaze back, "Seriously!" My hand smacked the bars.

The door opened and she stopped in her tracks. I could only see her face but I didn't see who was standing in the door that had scared her. She was flung to the ground. Her body twisted and black smoke discharged from her mouth; whoever was attacking them lunged at her. It was a man, strong and tall; I didn't his face, though.

Her body twisted sadistically beneath him; her body arched up and then it went limp. He got off of her body and that's when I knew I was screw. Shakily, I grabbed the knife from the floor; I spun around and waited with the knife behind my back. His heavy footsteps stopped a cell down, I was holding my breath.

My body froze and, if it was possible, my jaw dropped to the floor. There, with his dark colors, stood my neighbor. "Dylan?" He smirked. "What the hell are you?"

* * *

Hey! I'm back with new chapter! :F  
What do you think? Confusing? No worries next chapter is gonna be good! Like good, good, everything good. *winks*  
So, yeah, tell me your thoughts through messages or reviews! Alright?

Take care until next time...

P.S. Thanks for the reviews, following, favorites! You, guys, are rocking my world.

P.S.S. I'll try to update soon again. I'll update as soon I get the chapter back from my beta. Let's all thank her without her I couldn't be updating Dark Lover. Any guesses of what Dylan might be?! Tell in your review!


	14. Kärlek

**CHAPTER 14:  
****KÄRLEK****  
**

* * *

Dylan had killed a demon. My brain was screaming at me to fight and run away. He regarded me with shocked eyes to see me standing here. I waited for him to close the distance, as soon as he was near me, I jammed the knife into his stomach with the little energy I had. He didn't groan or gasp, his jaw was tight in agony, he bent over, his hand clenched the hilt of the knife, blood sodden through his fingers, and he cursed through gritted teeth. His hand grasped from the bar of the cell to balanced himself_. Why are you standing here, Christa? Run! Run! _I sprinted out of the cell, closing the door behind me.

"Christa!" He whispered through ground teeth. I shook my head and ran down the hallway. The other cells were empty, it had a bed and quilt like mine. I ignored the demon body near the door, push her aside and close the door behind me.

The basement was dark, air drifted through something, I guesstimate it was the door, but it was hard to tell where the door was. Sightless, with my hands outstretched and my feet guiding me to the air, I looked from the door. It had taken a few tries to find the door; I had tumbled into a few things. Ten minutes later I found the door to the kitchen.

There was nobody inside the house, aside the dead bodies on the living room and kitchen there was nobody alive. Some had stabbed wounds; other didn't have wounds at all. I scowled at the sight and ran to the yard. A few times peering over my shoulder, but there was no Dylan in chase or any demon. The yard was empty, bodies here and there. I ran, planning to find someone near and asked for help.

An arm wrapped around my waist, lifting me from the ground. Fear rose inside me. _Dylan_. I punched my elbow into his stomach. He groaned, but I was free. I spun, prepared to fight him. But I stopped short, it wasn't Dylan. He looked like him, he was handsome, tall, black hair, build, but his eyes were different, hazel. Behind him, Dylan was walking to us with blood in his shirt. I took a step back, startled that he was walking.

He waved the knife. "Who gave you the dagger?"

I didn't know what to fear more, a demon or Dylan and a stranger that was probably like him. My eyes skim between the two men. Dylan regarded me oddly, watching every step I took. Fleeing from Dylan was not on my plans, I wouldn't get far. My back smacked into a tree. _Damn tree!_ I tried to look past of what I had seen back in the basement and tried to control my instinct to run away, but I couldn't stop it, Dylan killing the demon kept spinning.

"What ... the knife?" I ask numbly. Dylan holstered the knife in his jeans. "Oh, look, someone kidnapped. I didn't know for whom the Mrs. Demon work."

Much to my flabbergasted both looked men startled, "Wait, wait." Dylan held up a hand, "You know about demons?" His face changed and I couldn't read it.

_Crap_. "Wasn't I supposed to?" I murmured. "Let's rewind that and pretended that I didn't say anything, okay? And, I walk away free." At their inexpressive faces, I babbled, "I guess that's a no." My mind worked again and I saw myself flung into the ground and Dylan murdered me.

Dylan cupped his chin, and sighed, "Come on let's get out of here." He sauntered away vanishing into the darkness. "Come on."

Dazed I followed Dylan, the stranger behind me. The car was about twelve feet away from the house, under a large tree. As soon as I streamed down the ground road I debated if it was a good idea to run from them, but decided I was going to take my chances, I didn't know where I was. So, I let Dylan manhandled me into the backseat. Dylan drove off through the gravelly road, leaving a trail of dust behind us.

Dylan had a motel room rented in the outskirts of Dallas. The building was old, but the room was packed with a TV, bathroom, two beds. I showered, when I stepped out Dylan was gone. There were a lot of questions and that need answers. That left me with the stranger in awkward staring. Sighing, I collapsed onto the bed, while he sat in a chair.

I cleared my throat. "What's your name?"

"Noah," he said, his brow furrowed.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Noah. I am, Christa." He stared at my outstretched hand, beaming he shook it. "Could I use the phone to call my friend?" He nodded. "Thanks." I round the bed, flopping into it, pick the phone ringing Sofia cellphone, it only rung twice.

"Hello?"

"Hey, it's me, Christa," My finger played with the cord of the phone.

"Christa! Where are you? You, Miss, had us worried ..."

"I know. Sorry, something came up. And I am not alone, anyway." I said, peering over my shoulder. Noah was scrolling in his iPhone. I gazed back at the phone, closing my eyes and opened them again. "Listen, I'm okay."

"Who is with you? And, you always said that, but you uneasiness us, Christa." _I know._ "What is it?" Her voice was easygoing. "Eric came to see us. He didn't believe us what we told him anyway."

There it was again, my heart fluttered at thought of Eric. "He's not there is he?"

"No, no." Okay, so he was in Fangtasia working, perhaps drinking a fang banger. My hand clenched at my side. "Where are you?" She repeated.

"I am in Dallas." The bed shifted weight, I peered over my shoulder, and Noah was at the edge of the bed scrolling in his iPhone. He gazed up. "Hold on," I murmured to Sofia. I covered the mouth piece.

"Dylan just brought back your car," he said quietly, he looked back to his phone. "He went back to Dallas do something."

"Alright, thanks," He didn't say anything back, my mind focused back to Sofia. "We can talk tomorrow, I have to go," I chanted back to Sofia.

"Okay, we're at my house..."

The door opened behind us. Noah's hand clutched my forearm and pushed me behind him. I stumbled, but I clenched my hands on his tee shirt to steady myself. The phone dropped to the floor shattered into pieces. Knowing I wasn't safe in Dallas; I got closer to Noah, smacking my chest into his back. Were demons back to get me? My heart pounded faster at Noah lethal silence. I gazed around Noah's arm. My mouth hung open. The room got chiller with Eric fury; his eyes immobilized me in the spot. Noah hands reached from my waist to push me back, Eric eyes settled on where Noah's hand was though.

Both of them stood there watching each other like getting ready for a dead match. I moved closer to Noah, I didn't want Eric to get into any fight with a demon or whatever Dylan and Noah were. I paced around him, placing my hand in Noah's forearm, squeezing. He gazed down surprised, "I know him." Eric growled at the back of his throat. My hand dropped from Noah's forearm. Noah nodded, gazing back to Eric with a dangerous stared.

"She's coming with me," Eric said sharply to Noah.

I angled my head, staring at him not liking how impolite he was acting. He had never shown the vampire 'mine' thing and I didn't like it. I twisted my head toward Noah. "Tell Dylan I'm not done with him." Noah nodded.

Eric wrapped his arms around my waist and lugged me to him. My body responded with passion ... It was a good feeling his arms around me, something familiar and his musky scent. It just felt right. These feelings confused me and terrified me at the same time. I had never felt something like this with anybody. Why is it I was feeling different with Eric?

The drive back to Shreveport was muteness. We didn't speak a word to each until we were back to Eric's house. If I could have a wish, my wish would have been anywhere, but with Mister Madness Eric. Why was he mad? He opened my door and we walked through the house, the house vacant, there were no maids or Pam. He opened the door to a room, to what I assumed was his room. It was dark in colors and it had light-proof shutter something the other room I stayed didn't have. I sat in the huge bed and my fingers outlined the black satin sheet. Eric slouched near the door, his arms crossed over his chest. Like usual I was the first one to speak.

"I had to find answers," I whispered.

"And that got you kidnapped." His ire was clear in his voice however as he continued speaking his voice got softer. "I'm looking for all the answers and you will stay home where you're safe."

"This is another business, Eric. It has nothing to do with you."

"You're mine; everything that's going on is my business." I frowned at his words. It could have been nice to think that he thought I was something more, but I knew nothing would work out between us, he was a vampire and I am well a ... human. I already had enough with vampires and I don't think Eric understood that. Even at thought of leaving hurt, but if I wished to stay away and had a normal life I had to make choices, maybe it wasn't the right choice, but I was going to enjoy my time with Eric for now.

We stared at each other, until I looked away annoyed. My mind spun through my two days with the demons. Novak was back. Somehow he escaped, and now he wants my head. Something told me he wasn't going to stop until he has me.

"Novak," I said. It was time to tell someone my story, if I had to tell Eric that was enough. Sofia or Anna had to know it. My body shuddered thinking of him. "His name is Novak. Arthur and Novak were together in dirty business, human trafficking girls worldwide, mostly virgins and they sold them to other vampires." Memories of the girls I saw in Arthur house spun in my head.

"I never knew what happened to them after they sold them, but I knew ... But I knew what those vampires did to them ... I never did something to stop them." Eric stirred closer and slumped next to me. "Arthur's empire collapsed after I found that Novak betrayed him," I gazed at Eric, his eyes were unreadable, but if I opened my mind and read his thoughts I would know what was he thinking, but I was afraid of his thoughts. My gaze resumed to the window. "Since then Novak has tried to killed me, if wasn't for Arthur, Novak would had killed me."

"Novak ... He's not good news." I whipped my head to stare at him. "I had heard of him, he's known for his ruthless to humans. But he disappeared for years, what happened to him?"

I sighed. "Arthur knew his weakness, so he silvered him and now he's on the loose, and he wants to kill me. That sure as hell sounds fun."

"I am going to find him," he said. Unexpectedly, Eric had me flipped into the bed. He cupped my cheek with his hand, tenderly. I gaze at him; the dim light in the room shadowed his face. I nodded; my eyes fall in his mouth.

And then he was kissing me. His hand was that the back of my neck, pressing me into his hard chest. The kiss was wet and desperate. His other hand caressed my skin beneath my shirt. He lifted one of my legs over his waist and got between my legs. I pulled away to inhale.

"I think someone is desperate," I murmured. He chuckled into my neck. My hands travel down his back. His hand moved to the hem of my shirt, he tugging it over my head. His mouth moved to kiss my neck and my breast. His hand stirred behind my back and unfastened my bra. He cupped my breast, pinched, twisted, suck my nipples. Hotness spread between my legs. After that, I undress hurriedly him.

He pulled back gazing into my eyes, his fingers caressed my cheek, "_Vackra_." I opened my mouth and asked him what that meant, but he leaned down and suck my harden nipple.

I gasped, his cock dug in my crotch. "You really have that down there?" He laughed quietly.

I bit my lower lip, stopping my moans. My greedy hands moved over his chest. I sat upright; trailing kisses in his chest, he groaned, his eyes tight shut. He hooked his hand on the back of my neck and pulled me into a roughly kissed. My hands clenched into his smooth hair.

"Two days," he murmured into my lips.

My eyes shut, inhaling. _He wasn't going to let that go_. "Forget about it, I'm okay." I opened my eyes, smiling. My fingers stirred down his back.

"Don't ever do something behind my back, Christa, you need to promise." He titled my head and kissed my neck. His hand pitched my nipple, my body arched up. I nodded. "I need words, Christa." He gave another pitched.

I bit my lower lip and shut my eyes once again. Without warning, I was flat on my back. Eric forearms beside my head. His face was serious. My head rolled to my side and I kissed his arm. I couldn't promise something that serious.

Without warning, Eric pushed inside me. I gasped, my nails dug into his arms. He moved speedily in and out, "Word."

"I promise, I promise." I gushed breathless.

"That works," he babbled, smirking boastfully. His hands held my hips, thrusting in and out. My legs wrapped around his waist, as he moved faster inside me. I was close, but he drew away, beaming. My insides were clenching, wanting him inside me.

"Eric," I growled. He didn't stop leering. "Fine!" If he wasn't to do it, I was going to do it. I pushed him off me, moving my hand between my legs. He held my wrists. "Eric!"

"You are not cumming with your hand," he ogled smiling, he held my wrists insecurely that I could have free effortlessly. "We will leave that for another time, _kärlek_."

Eric rolled me into my belly, my body flat into the mattress, his hands tightened on my lower back. He slipped inside slowly, his pushing unhurriedly. He moved in and out slowly. . My hands scrunched the satin sheet. He felt deep and better from behind. He moved faster, my heart beating faster with each thrust. Eric kissed my back, my insides clenching around his shaft. My body shudder, as an orgasm released deep inside me. I shudder beneath him. He leaned into my back, his mouth to my ear, he murmured, "_kärlek_."

As sunrise near, Eric laid next to me, his arm wrapped around my waist. He towed me closer to his chest, resting my head into his chest and tried to get a good sleep for once. And, for that moment he made me felt that he cared about me. That everything was alright as long I trusted him. Novak was locked up in the back of my head and I just thought of what would become of me once I face him again. I turned over and Eric rolled with me, he kissed my shoulder-blade.

"How do you feel about meeting someone?" He cuddled me closer and his arm wrapped around my waist.

I peered over my shoulder. His brow was furrowed. "Whom? If it is a vampire, no, thanks."

He chuckled, "It's not a vampire." He paused. "Someone that can help us find what you are." He murmured lightly that I may had missed it.

"Seriously?" I asked, finally hoping that I was going to know what I was. "When we meet this mysterious person?"

"Tomorrow night." I nodded, my hand tightened around his arm. And, with Eric beside me, I fell asleep into a blissful slumber.

The next day, Adrian was following me around. Apparently, Eric had talk to him while I asleep and gave that orders. I didn't feel when Eric had left and returned to bed. I had awakened early to meet with Anna and Sofia in her house. Sofia and Anna had asked questions and I had answered them as good as I could. We ate a late lunch and I helped for two hours in the store. And, this how we end up, Adrian following me around the shelter. Cassie had asked me where I had been in my two days of disappearance. I had told her a lie. The lying was easily coming from my mouth.

I leaned my hip into the counter, waiting for the popcorn. We were watching a movie, it was time to relax, it was getting darker outside. Dorothy wasn't in the kitchen a rare sight. She was always inside her kitchen, finding something to do when there was nothing to clean or cook.

_Bang_.

It was a slender sound, but I jumped at the sound. It had come somewhere outside the kitchen. My heart beating a mile from my body, someone or something was outside the kitchen, but when I had walked to the kitchen nobody was outside. Parents and kids were across the yard. Smoothly, I clinched a knife, and stroll to the door. With a deep breath, I opened the door. Nothing.

I stepped into the hallway, peering left and right. Nobody was outside or coming. Shrugging, I controlled my beating heart and spun to walk inside the kitchen. I gasped, clenching the knife. I wasn't surprised to see Dylan. He was leaning against the counter, his arms over his chest.

"You scared me to death," I said, gazing sideways into the hallway when I saw nobody, I strolled inside the kitchen closing the door behind me. "How do you found me?"

"Hey," he raised a hand in greeting. "It was easy. How are you?"

Perplex at his questions I said: "I'm doing just fine."

"Noah told me you left with a vampire."

_Oh. _"Everything's okay." I sighed, "What are you?" I asked quietly with a grimaced remembering the bodies of the demons. He didn't answer, I glanced at Dylan. His eyes were studying me.

"You couldn't understand my world," He said with a smirk. His leered vanish as he spoke again, "It hard to understand things from my world."

"Try me," my voice sounded daring. I was aiming for that. "Demons aren't a secret to me anymore."

"Yeah, something humans shouldn't know. How do you know about demons?"

I shrugged, "I have good resources." Arthur hadn't told me much about these clans. Dylan's face was unresponsive to my answered.

For a minute I thought he wasn't going to speak, and then he said quietly. "How much you know about demons?"

"I just know they're real, they don't take host in humans, and they look like humans, though they can trick you to believe things." I didn't know if he wanted to hear that answered. "But you could tell me more."

"You are slightly right about demons don't take humans host." He smiled, looking weary. "There three types of Demons. Type-3 is lesser a demon, Cambions the half-human offspring of the union between human mothers and an Incubus."

The microwave beeped, but I ignored it. "Demons having sex with a human, that's a little ... dangerous."

"Cambions was born from love. Incubus can fall in love with humans almost like soul mates. Yet, they are extremely rare, Incubus who found them is fortunate." He leaned against the counter. "Anyway, the type-2 is black-eyed demons, officially humans, but sired by succubus or an incubus. All that jazz about takings humans host are foolish. Well, and the type-1, are the Masters, strongest and fastest demons."

"Succubus or an incubus," I murmured, he nodded. "What type are you?"

His brow arched, a smiled almost twitching at corner of his lips. "Type-1."

_Holy darn!_ "Are you immortal?" He nodded. _How old was he?_ "Do you any abilities?" He nodded. "How about Type-3 and Type-2?" He nodded. "How did you find me in Dallas?"

"Job, some girls went missing and we found you. A lot of black-eyed demons help vampires or any Supes to do dirty jobs." I knew that. His phone beeped, he rolled his eyes. Sighing, he grasped his phone from his inner pocket of his coat. "Well, it was nice chatting with you, but I have a meeting to attend." In a blink of an eye, he was standing inches away from my face. "Stay away from trouble, Miss Perkins."

I didn't have time retorted anything, he had vanished in thin air. My eyes skimmed around the room, waiting from Dylan to come out from somewhere, but there were no traced of him. The thumped at the door made me jumped.

"Hey," I greeted, Adrian, with a smiled. "Do you anything."

"No, Miss Perkins, but Mister Northman called. He's waiting for us."

"Oh. Would you please wait a bit? I need to take popcorn to Cassie." He nodded.

Finally, I was going to know what I was.

* * *

**QUICKIE AUTHOR'S NOTE:**

**I think Dark Lover doesn't have a beta any longer! Sad, I know, but my beta hasn't answered my emails. *SIGHS* Anyway, I am not stopping updating Dark Lover. I will update and read over chapters! Lemme me know if there any mistakes! **

**Any thoughts of what Christa may be? Are you excited that we are going to find out what's Christa? ****Lemme me know in your reviews.**

**Next chapter, Godric is coming! I am so freaking excited. Jealous Eric = Madness!**


	15. Madness

**CHAPTER 15  
MADNESS**

Eric was indifferent when I saw him again. It hurt. The rage that bubbled inside was hard to control; once in a while he gave weird looks. Eric was behind his desk, the phone propped in his shoulder, speaking in French. He wore black jeans and black sleeves V-neck tank, but he always look good no matter what was he wore. I waited on the sofa, staring at the paint that hung behind him, showing an agonized figure, blood-red sky, a bridge, the landscape in the background Oslofjord. I had seen that paint in Anna's antique store, but a replica, it was "The Scream" a print from Norwegian artist Edvard Munch.

It appeared he wasn't close to end the called any time soon. I climbed to my feet and stomped out, feeling his piercing eyes as I walked out. The house was quiet, the maids and Adrian retreated to their rooms when I arrived. Pam was at Fantasia, later Eric would catch up with her. I let myself roamed the house, peering into rooms here and there. Soon, I found a terrace. It had a small garden with different flowers and colors with two benches of carved wood. Eric or Pam didn't seem like the type to care about gardens or flowers, my greatest guess was that it was from a maid care.

I flopped on the bench, shuddering a bit from the crispy night air. The dress I wore was from our many sprees to the mall. The only reason I purchased the dress was because I felt damn sexy wearing it. It was a short dress with a lace printed woven bodice and a paneled knit skirt, round neckline, sleeveless, matching it with black platforms. My hair gathered into a messy ponytail, a twist of strand of hair with a few wisps of hair.

My brain rattled of what was happening tonight. What if I didn't like what I found out tonight? Did I have a chose anyway? Miserably, I didn't. But whatever was the theory of what I was, I knew I would survive. Most of my life I had waited for this answer. Mama never knew what I was. Never spoke of my Pa or anything related about him or his family. What if my father was something didn't I like? Again, it didn't matter.

"It's cold," a voice said behind me.

I peered over my shoulder, Eric stood behind the bench. He draped his leather jacket over my shoulders. I covered up my face in his jacket, it smelled of him. My heart accelerated, warmth spread through my body. "I don't mind." I rose to my feet, disregarding Eric's outstretched hand, and his furrowed brow. "Let's go," I walked to the door.

His hand fastened my arm, a light touch, but enough for my heart rate to speed. He yanked me to his chest, I gulped. We stood gazing into each other eyes. "You can't go dress like that." There was a dark note to his tone.

_What? _"Excuse me?" My eyes shifted to his lips. Damn. I shook myself out of the spell of those delicious lips, and stared back into his eyes. "You can't tell me what to wear, Eric. So, suck it up!"

"Just go and change. I'm trying to control myself. You don't know how much I want to rip that dress off and have you bent over the bench, fucking you hard." His other hand rambled between my thighs, working its way up to the wetness coming between my legs. He brushed his lips into mine, his tongue slipped inside. In a hard way my hand handful his hair, I melt. His hand worked between my legs. Too soon we broke apart. "Christa," he clenched his jaw. "You have close inside the house, go and change."

"No, I don't have ..." I paused, as my brain repeated his words. He wanted me to stay in his house? My heart goes faster at the thought of staying with Eric ... like a couple. _Wait, he wants you to distract you!_ I wriggled my arm free. "I'll wait at the car."

The rode was about two hours. I questioned about the person we were meeting, Eric answered. The person we were meeting was a man. The man we were meeting was sort of friends with Godric. The man lived on the outskirts of Shreveport. As Eric drove further and further outside the city, I knew the man house was deep in the forest.

The house was big, castle style with many windows; by the count of windows it had six stories. It also gave the hunched of dungeons and spooky tunnels beneath the house as seen in movies. The black gates opened, the ghostly house was fence by trees, and the only thing it missed was the mist for a spine-chilling effect. As Eric drove through the gravel path to the house, I peered around, opening my mind to listen to any thoughts. Shocked, I gaped at Eric. There weren't any thoughts, just a black wall ... almost like a shield. Eric gave me a look, I relaxed and gazed to an enormous dim lighted glass greenhouse that took most of the backyard.

Eric parked the car, rounding the car and opened the door. "Thanks." I uttered, walking to the door.

His hand gripped my forearm, yanking me back to his side. "Stay by my side."

I wouldn't dispute about it, not knowing what was waiting behind those doors? Thus, I nodded my head once, "Fine." I waited at his side as he knocked at the door. It didn't take long for it to swung open, a man wearing black pants and black dress shirt unlocked the door.

"Please come in," the man had a thick English accent. He stepped aside, waving us in. Eric's hand rested at the small of my back and rushed me in. Mr. Butler closed the door behind us. Eric wrapped his arm around my waist. "Follow me."

Mr. Butler led us through a hallway, paints dangled on the wall. I didn't have time to know what paints were, but they were old and costly. The French doors of the living room were open, we walked in. The fireplace was going, the flames twirling. Bookcases from floor-to-ceiling took the walls. There was no TV, or anything personal. The sofas brown leather with a center table, and a bowl with a white lily floating on water.

"Would you like anything?" The man skimmed between us, beaming please.

"No, thank you." I told him. His mind was blank. I didn't like the situation.

"No," Eric said aloofly

"Very well, Master will be here shortly." He bowed and left.

"That wasn't very nice." I murmured quietly, gazing the books titles, some were in different language. I felt his eyes. "We're guests here be nice."

Eric's hand obliged my head to face him. Anger blazed in his eyes. "Why are you mad?"

_Look who's talking?_ I grasped his wrist. "I am not wrathful, just be nice, Eric."

He clenched his jaw, releasing my chin. "You forgot that I can feel you, something's upsetting you since you walked in into my house. So tell."

Inhaling, I faced the wall. "I am just ... nervous of this situation. That's all." My eyebrow rose, "I can't hear the thoughts of anyone in the house."

Before Eric could voice whatever he was going to say, the voice out in the hallway made me got up to my feet. The voice was familiar. I ambled into the hallway, after the voice and ignored Eric voice. I walked the hallway and another two and I found the staircase. I stared disbelieving. This was a sick joke! He couldn't be here! I knew he was an Incubus; he could sire humans to become black-eyed demons and hybrid humans called, Cambions. There on the staircase, wearing a tailored black suit, black hair in a ponytail with the Butler was Dylan.

"Dylan ..." I choked out. He whipped his head, wrinkling his brow. He was shock to see me here. I felt Eric beside me, my hand found his hand, clenching it tightly.

Dylan strode to us, "Eric, Godric's progeny. Welcome to my house." They shook hands. My mind stopped working, the more I stared at Dylan something clear_. Dylan. Theory of what I was. Demon. _He turned to me, "Christa, nice to you again. You look lovely." His eyes travelled my body.

Eric growled. Dylan laughed quietly. I found my voice to speak again. "Dylan ... you knew?"

Huffing, he said: "Let's have this conversation somewhere private, shall we?" He spun on his heels. "Follow me."

We followed Dylan to his study. Eric hand clasped my waist protectively as we walked. The study was much like the great room; bookcases from floor-to-ceiling took the wall behind the desk. The desk had a laptop, papers, and a wireless phone. A small sitting area was at the corner of the study. Dylan flopped on the chair behind the desk, his eyebrow raised. Like the night he went to my house and our first meet his mind was mute. I was push out his head, breathless my hand clenched my head. Eric wrapped his arm around my waist.

I took a shaky gasp. "I am okay."

"You look pale."

"I am fine," I sneered. He tucked a wisp of hair behind my ear, "Seriously." He didn't believe me, I wasn't reading his thoughts, but his face showed it.

There was a knocked on the door. Mr. Butler came in with a gentle smiled. The tray had TruBlood and tea. He placed it in the small desk area. "Master, something else you need?"

"No, Tyler, you can leave," Dylan beckoned him. Tyler bowed and left.

"You sire him," I whispered. Dylan slouched back on the chair, simpering. "So you're his Master."

"Yes."

Eric skimmed between us, burrowing his brow. I stepped closer to the desk, my hands rested at the edge of the desk. "You knew that night you went to my house, didn't you?" Eric growled again, I peered over my shoulder and gave him a look that said: Knock it off.

"No, I did not, but I can't read your mind, so I asked my connections for info." I gaped at his words, a smiled twitch at the corners of his mouth. "I am still waiting for those files."

"Why you can't hear my thoughts?"

He exhaled bother, "Simple, Masters cannot hear other Masters Bloodline, but theirs." I crumpled my brow. "Masters can only read thoughts from their bloodline, Cambions and Black-eyed demons. You do not have my blood, that's why your mind is mute and I am mute to you. You're from a different bloodline."

"So, I am a Cambion?" Dylan nodded.

My hand scrubbed over my face. Dylan words spun over my brain. Lastly, after waiting for years for an answer of what I am was finally answered. I am a Cambion. A hybrid from an Incubus. But who was my sire? I flopped on the chair, Eric sat on the next chair, his hand found mine.

"I haven't seen a Cambion for years." He voiced to Dylan. Dylan nodded. "You went into hiding after The Great War."

"Yes. Things got complicated after Lucifer declared war to Garden of Eden, many of Masters died and it was necessary." Dylan didn't say much about it.

Dylan and Eric stared at each other. Then I remember my high every time I kissed man or the green veins I saw one day, "Dylan, why I feel this sort of high to my head when I kiss a human?"

He regarded me with interested. "Cambion needs energy. When you kiss a human you take away their energy. It's call life-force absorption."

"Jesus-C this shit is crazy." I slouched back into the chair. I felt Eric eyes. Perhaps he wasn't happy to know my 'Made out Kisses with Guys'. "I take the energy from guys!"

"It's your survival. Cambions feeds every two months. When was your last feed?"

"I don't remember."

Dylan eyed Eric, "You cannot feed from vampires. They don't have the 'light' like humans."

_It's why I never high while we made out. _"Okay. Feed every two months, got it."

"How usually you feed?"

_Wow how awkward._ I didn't like that Eric was listening. "When I feel this kind of ... pull to guys ... and then we are kissing." I cleared my throat, avoided looking at Eric. "So, you said Cambion have abilities?" I changed the topic.

His face sobered, "Yes," he regarded me closely. "But we don't know your sire. Your abilities come from your Master bloodline." When I opened my mouth he rushed to say: "All Masters can read minds."

_Damn_. "Oh. So it would be hard to know my Bloodline?" Dylan nodded. "It started when I was in high school."

"Yes, Cambion abilities heightened when they're teenagers, rarely in some cases at early age."

"So, how I am going to find out who's my sire? Do you have any sort of files?"

"No, I do not. But we can ask my father."

My eyes widened. "You have a father?" I could see his father tall, black-hair and his hair brushing his shoulders.

"No, but he's like one."

_Way to kill my imagination._ "Oh. When do we can ask him?"

"Well, I'll have to call him and fly him here. He would be here in two weeks."

"Sounds like we have a plan."

Dylan promised to call me soon, he wasn't living in my neighborhood anymore, and it had been a cover story to investigate of disappearance of girls. Godric was waiting for Eric when we arrived. I nodded at him and walked to Eric's room. Godric and Eric remained on the living room.

I slumped into the bed, my hand covered my mouth. It was taking a while to process what had happened with Dylan. A Cambion, I am half demon. My mind spun the many times I didn't ask my Mama who was my father. Maybe something had happened to him? Why he had left?

Exhaling, I stood up. As Eric had told me, the walk-in closet of his room had clothes my size. I stared at it, not really knowing how to take this turned of events. Was Eric trying to tell me something? That he wanted something more of what was happening between us? I wasn't sure what was happening between us, we just fucked and he helped figure out what I am. But what else could happen between us?

My hand reached behind me, zipping the dress, it fell at my feet. I picked up and hung in a hook. With heels and my underwear on, I looked through the clothes. There were different types of jeans and tanks mostly in dark colors. I opted for skinny jeans a carpi tank. There was cavernous growled behind me.

I whipped around, my heart pounding. Eric eyes roamed over my half nude body. I felt exposed. Still, I relished how he was looking at me. Warmth spread over my body, my heart hastened, his early words roared again. I'm trying to control myself; you don't know how much I want to rip that dress off and fuck you.

I arched my eyebrow, "See something you like?"

He didn't say anything, he strode to me and we started kissing. His tongue dipped inside, my hand clutched his soft hair. He grunted at back of his throat, his hand clasped my waist, slamming me into the wall. I exposed my neck as Eric head moved to kiss my neck, he nipped there. My hands clasped his shoulders. My breathing was shallow, wetness gathered in my sex.

Eric yanked the cups of the bra, my breast bounced free. He cupped my breast in his hands, bent his head down, and sucked, licked, and nipped my nipples, I moaned. His tongue swirled around and around in my nipples. It was hard to breathe now, the heat between my legs wanted released like a maddened beast.

Eric's other hand roamed over my ass and between my legs. His finger tugged the hem of my panties aside, his finger slipped in my juice stroking my clit. I moaned shuddering. "You are ready," he whispered, huskily in my ear. His finger circled around my clit. "You see how I make you feel? I make your body to want me, isn't that what you want?"

It was hard to think with his finger driving me crazy. I took unstable panted. "Yes." He dipped two digits in and out. I chewed my lower lip, moaning. Eric withdrawal his fingers, "Eric..."

He nipped my shoulder, nipping down my belly. I attempted to push myself off the wall. Eric tightened the hand on my waist. He spun me to the wall, holding my hands behind my back with his other hand.

Something soft, silk like bounded around my wrist. He was bounding me with his tie! I chewed the inside of my cheek, my heart pounding harder. I had never done this. Eric spun me to face him. The sound of his zipper was loud in the room. He stroked his cock up and down, and got between my legs, lifting one of my legs to his waist. Eric tugged the hem of the panties aside; the head of his cock caressed my sex.

"Eric…" I said breathless.

Eric shoved inside, grunting. My insides clenched his cock. He growled. "You are so wet and tight, _kärlek_." Both of his hands held my waist. His rhythm was slow at first, then his thrusting become faster and harder as my heart accelerated pounding in my ears.

Eric had his way with me twice in the closet. I didn't mind at all. I lazed in the floor, Eric thumb caressing my belly. I yanked the cups of my bra up. He helped me rose to my feet. My legs felt like jelly and my sex still twitching, my hair a messed.

Eric chuckled. "Next time wear something that'll make you not walk for a week." He smooch me and smacked my ass. I squealed.

We took a quick shower and Eric had his way with me again. I tried to give him a blowjob, he didn't let me. He said I didn't need to do that, my arousal got him worked up. After we finished, I changed into a nightie. Eric strode off the closet with clean clothes. "Stay here, I'll go and help Pam for a few hours."

I nodded. "Okay."

He kissed me again, pulling away and he cupped my cheek. "Godric will be here in any minute, he agreed to look after you."

"That's what you talked about?" I stroked his cheek with my digit, he kissed my palm. I melt. My hand tumbled to my lap.

"Yes."

At that time a lightbulb turned on. All vampire sheriffs recorded the deaths of vampires, there was a chance that Godric had the deaths that occurred that night in Dallas of my rescued and other girls Arthur had that night in his house. "Okay."

I waited for Eric to leave. Once he was out the room, quietly I strayed to the closet and changed into what I opted to changed, a pair of jeans and a cardi sweater, and slipped my black platforms. Godric was on the living room with a TruBlood. He got up from his seat as I approached.

"Beth," he used my old nickname, he wore black jeans and gray V-neck sweater. "How are you?"

"I am doing fine." I beamed, chewing my lip. "So, I need help with something. Could you help me?"

"I told Eric I'd keep my eyes on you and that means nothing reckless." He said somber, wriggling the bottle in his hands.

I played my best card under my sleeve. "You'll be with me."

He regarded me distrustfully, "And what's that?"

"I need to see records of vampire deaths from Dallas."

"Why?"

I shrugged one shoulder. "I want to know who survived that night of the kills at Arthur's. There's a small chance someone survived and free Novak."

"Novak has a lot of associates someone of them freed him." He swung the bottle to his lips, sipping the fake blood. He didn't grimace like Arthur usually had when he had to drink TruBlood. He put down the bottle on the table, "Since my investigation of that night, allies of Novak work to get you, they never found you."

"Yeah, I know. The thing is that Novak is back."

"I see." He judged me cautiously. Finally, he said: "Let's go and check those records."


End file.
